Organ Pipe Cactus

March 1, 2012 by 5 Comments
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Organ Pipe Cactus © 2012 Bo Mackison

Transparent and intangible as sunlight, yet always and everywhere present, [the desert] lures a man on and on, from the red-walled canyons to the smoke-blue ranges beyond, in a futile but fascinating quest for the great, unimaginable treasure which the desert seems to promise. Once caught by this golden lure you become a prospector for life. ~ Edward Abbey

The organ pipe cactus shares this mountainside with saguaros, mesquite, and blooming brittlebush. The organ pipe has many arms which appear to come from a low-to-the-ground center and resembles a pipe organ, its namesake. Some of the largest specimens grow to twenty-five feet, but most of the cacti I saw at Organ Pipe National Monument were in the twelve to eighteen feet range.

Organ Pipe Cactus and Desert Marigold

Organ Pipe Cactus © 2012 Bo Mackison

Although the lucky organ pipes that make it through their first years become giants in the Sonoran Desert, they are a bit on the slow side when they are getting started. In the wild, an organ pipe is only four inches high when it celebrates its eighth birthday. A three foot tall cactus will be about twenty years old, and it will finally reach an adult height of twenty feet when it is forty five or fifty years old.

Organ Pipe Cactus grow in Sonora, Mexico and a few are seen in the Tucson area, but the majority of Organ Pipe Cacti that grow in the United States are in or very near the monument. These cacti are afforded little protection in Mexico, so it is vital that we remain committed to maintaining this region for the protection of this unique cactus.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Love the organ pipe cactus and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. What an amazing place!

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Four Views of the Desert Brittlebush

February 25, 2012 by 6 Comments
Desert Marigold, OrganPipe NM

Desert Brittlebush © 2012 Bo Mackison

I walked in the desert often these last days, preferably alone, and looked lovingly at my brittle-bush, my fine beds of desert holly, my border of paper daisies and desert marigolds. Here, tended by unseen hands, are plants equal to any in a botanical garden. They seemed to flourish for me alone, just as the birds seemed to sing for me alone. There was no one else to see them, just as there was no one else to hear the birds sing. 

~ Olga Wright Smith in Gold on the Desert

Desert Marigold II

Leaning towards the Sun © 2012 Bo Mackison

Brittlebush is one of the old standbys in the Sonoran Desert. It is drought resistant and blooms when there has been little rainy weather. But it is even more spectacular when Mother Nature sends rain. Brittlebush is common and easy to find wherever one looks in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. At the foot of an organ pipe or saguaro cactus, spreading upwards to add mounds of yellow color on mountain sides road sides and along the dry arroyas.

Ajo Mountain in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Ajo Mountain, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument © 2012 Bo Mackison

The brittlebush is now a popular plant even in the city, as its characteristics lend themselves well to the xeriscaped (natural) landscapes in the arid Southwest. But it looks might fine to me, adding splashes of yellow to the green desert.

It is used in rites and rituals throughout the region and was once was burned as incense in many churches across the border in Mexico. The substance exuded from the stems were used as a chewing gum, and at one time it was even exported to Europe, sent by the Spanish mission priests. The Tohono O’odham continue to use the brittlebush as a source of gum.

Saguaro and Organ Pipes

Saguaro and Organ Pipes Cacti © 2012 Bo Mackison

The brittlebush has an interesting defense system. It exudes a compound from its leaves and when these chemicals are washed onto the surrounding gravelly soil, it lessens other plants’ abilities to germinate. This gives the brittlebush less competition and more resources for survival.

Brittlebush has a long history of names since it was a common plant used by the Tohono O’odham, the Spanish priests, and the (mostly English) pioneers. Besides the common name of Brittlebush, it has been called Golden Hills, rama blanca (white branch), incienso (incense), hierba de las animas (herb of the souls), hierba del bazo (spleen-herb), and hierba ceniza (gray herb).

I rather like the name hierba de las animas. Has a mystical sound to it — these yellow flowers charged with the care of souls.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She photographed these flowers at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and there are still many more photographs of other desert flowers to share.

 

 

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Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Bloom

February 22, 2012 by 5 Comments
Where are the Bloomin' Cacti?

Where are the Bloomin' Cacti? © 2012 Bo Mackison

It’s not often that one can’t see the many cacti in the Sonoran Desert because of blossoming flowers and shrubs.. But this spring one can truly say “Can’t see the cacti for the flowers.”

Park Rangers say that a rainy November and December, followed by a warmer than average January set up the National Monument for a potentially good Spring for desert blossoms. Then two days of soaking rain, each delivering 3/10ths of an inch of moisture, made the flowers pop!

The Palo Verde trees were turning yellow with flowers. The mesquite and brittlebush shrubs looked less like shrubs and more like yellow balls of blossoms. And the flowering plants — desert senna, desert marigolds, Mexican golden poppies, lupine, orange mallow, chuparosa, desert chicory — added shades of yellow, orange, purple and white to complete the transformation of the desert from cacti to layers of floral colors and greenery.

Sonoran Desert Dressed in Yellow

Desert, Dressed in Yellow © 2012 Bo Mackison

What a difference from the desert I fell for in 2011. Not knowing any better, I loved the Sonoran Desert a year ago, even though the desert had first experienced a plant-threatening frost in early February, then a prolonged drought throughout the spring and summer.

Last year, when I visited Organ Pipe for the first time, I asked the Park Rangers if there were any flowers in bloom. They looked at me as if I had just stepped off the bus from the far North. Well, they were close in their assessment. I had just driven to Arizona from the snow-bound Midwest, and I was enthralled with the desert blue skies and warm temperatures.

But no, they explained in particularly patient voices, there were no flowers in the desert right then. The desert was wearing mostly brown and drab green last year. The cacti maintained their greenish colors, but last year the desert scape was quite desolate. . . and brown. Except, I didn’t know just how desolate it was until I saw the Sonoran Desert a few days ago. I could barely contain my excitement with the lush growth, the bright colors, the layers upon layers of textures and life.

Well, truthfully, I didn’t contain my enthusiasm. Not one tiny bit. I was like a kid in a candy shop, going from bush to flower to tree with increasing joy. Everywhere I looked — flowers, flowers, and more flowers! It was almost beyond my understanding. I fell even more in love with this lush, vibrant  desert.

Wow!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She just returned from a visit to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and has more than 700 photos to sort through and process. Bo will be sharing photos of this gloriously blooming desert for quite a few blog posts..

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Organ Pipe Cactus — Another Visit

March 22, 2011 by 8 Comments
IMG_1781

Organ Pipe and the Whirling Cloud

I’m feeling quite a lot like this organ pipe cactus–all askew on my base of support, a bit in disarray, not knowing which direction I should be heading next. And in my tangled chaos, I need to pull out some organization and steady work habits.

The Tempe Art Festival begins this Friday, March 25 and goes through Sunday, March 27. I was notified of a recent booth change for Seeded Earth Studio which appears to be to my benefit. I am now located on Mill Street between University and Seventh and I have a corner booth. Now I am imagining a number of corner booth set-ups, both in my head and on paper. Of course, I never really make the final set-up decision until I am there, rearranging the panels like it’s a giant toy puzzle.

I’ll be pre-occupied for the next few days–putting the finishing touches on my hand crafted cards, assembling the sets, and making a card insert for each set. There are five new sets, all with an Arizona theme — desert botanical, desert landscape, Arizona National Parks, Mission at San Xavier del Bac, and Tumacacori Mission.

I also need to check each of my new prints and photo canvases–part of my quality control. There will be  first-time-exhibited photographs of Arizona at the Tempe show. I will probably keep checking them–a bit compulsively–until they are safely hung on the booth’s walls or placed in a print bin. But I want my booth to be perfect when the clock strikes 10:00 a.m. on this Friday and the first visitors come into the Seeded Earth Studio booth. I’m quite excited!

Now…back to work!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson through the first week in April, exhibiting her photography in art fairs, taking photographs in deserts,  and blogging about “Bo goes solo”. She is also scrambling to get everything in top-notch order for her upcoming show.

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Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

March 21, 2011 by 7 Comments
Organ Pipe Cactus at Organ Pipe Cactus NM

Organ Pipes at Organ Pipe Cactus NM

Journal Entry:

8:50 am. 74˚ F, windy, gusting to 30 mph. Sunny, no clouds, but dusty in the distance–the faraway mountains that I usually see in detail are obscured in a dust cloud.

I am quite fond of the organ pipe cactus. It doesn’t really live in this part of the Sonoran Desert, it has been planted by the Desert Museum staff. Before I go back to Wisconsin, I want to make one more trip Organ Pipe Land, to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, nearly three hours west of Tucson.

Organ Pipe — this one has 14 arms. Are they called arms? Most of them come straight from the ground. Two arms on this plant have split–like twins–and have a V-shape at the top.

18 feet–tallest. 8 inches–shortest.

I wonder what makes the girth of the cactus pull in–like a cord was tightened around its circumference and then removed, leaving an indentation. It’s a handsome specimen with lots of strictures. I like its shape. It is more interesting, the changes. Wouldn’t be as visually appealling if each arm was perfectly smooth, all the way from bottom to the very tip.

Just like people. The prim and proper aren’t nearly as interesting as those who don’t insist on showing the world only their perfect selves. It seems the more mistakes one makes, the more chances, risks that person has taken, the more they have learned.

Mistakes = trying over and over until the problem is solved, the project is finished.

Sometimes a mistake is apparent–this organ pipe had a virus and one of its ends is malformed, bulbous, some might say it is ugly, but I think its curves and bubbled surfaces are distinctive. It doesn’t lessen the worth of the organ pipe in my eyes. It gives me something more to study, to contemplate. It’s like a bit of decoration on the cactus plant.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”

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