Album: Saguaro Bloom, Spring 2021

Saguaro National Park

May 2021 brought an extremely rare phenomenon to the Tucson, AZ area: saguaro blooms were literally busting out all over. Saguaro blooms usually occur in springtime, with the flowers confined to a crown at the very top of the main body or mature arms. But after an unseasonal bloom in fall 2020, saguaro flowers in spring 2021 appeared down the length of main stems and arms, and—remarkably—even on small buds (“nubbins”). The reasons were unclear, but some longtime observers hypothesized that the extraordinary bloom was at least partially a stress response to prolonged drought. Long-term ecological monitoring by Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert Network will help us know if this reproductive profusion results in future saguaro recruitment.