Cactus Trip through the US South West

These guys seemed to be doing it hard...

Speaking of "doing it hard", seems this Fero's has had a "hard lot in life"

And another nice Cholla flower to finish of this stop...

Our next spot gave us a lovely plant I wasn't too familiar with... It's a Coryphantha, but it's a big one ! Coryphantha recurvata.

Impressive plant...these were in a small area in a state recreational reserve... not many plants either, hopefully they're left alone...

Wasn't long before we were in what everyone thinks of as "real cactus country".The land of the mighty Saguaro !

And we were lucky too as the plants were in flower...

Plenty of them too...

And good to see the future generations of giants coming on....

A teenage Saguaro hangin' out with an Echinocereus friend....

Classic "Cowboy movie" plants...

Massive.....

And flowering to boot !

Closer look...

And there were other things to catch your eye. Like Chollas...

...with lovely green flowers...

And crested Fero's !

and even the occasional crested Saguaro...

If you're brave enough, you can head down into southern Arizona near the Mexican border and you'll find another giant of a plant among the Saguaro. The Organ Pipe cactus, Stenocereus thurberi

Rough country down here, you have to be very careful, there are border hoppers, drug smugglers and so many border patrol cars you would not believe it...

But the countryside is nice

A close up look at a good sized plant....

Close up of the buds...no flowers though

And if you know where to look you might find a crested/monstrose plant...

If you get to the Organ Pipe National monument, you can even get a glimpse of what's (mostly) just over the border as they have an example of the 'Senita' - Pachycereus schotti

So heading back north into safer areas, we found what would be our last 'new' genus for the trip, and a plant I really want to see... This guy was a TOUGH one to see and find, it took us ages !

That's not a stick....That's Peniocereus greggii!