Saguaros
The saguaro is really the iconic cactus of the Sonoran desert. Very slow-growing, they don't either flower or grow their arms until they're older than we're likely to get. There are some others, similar looking, that grow lots faster and are probably better suited to cultivation, but the white saguaro blossom is the Arizona state flower, too. If there are no saguaros in view, I know I'm not home. It took me many years to figure it out, but my heart goes where the saguaro grows.
Hedgehog cactus
'Hedgehog' is a catch-all term for a whole bunch of small cactus. The ones I'm familiar with around the Tucson area tend to bloom in either orange, like this one from our garden, or electric red. Up around Sedona, we had some that bloomed in fuschia. The spine density and length varies from species to species, but they all tend to be among the earliest blooming cactus of the native ones. Here in the Tucson area, they bloom with the prickly pear. Up north, they bloom first.
Prickly pear
These are some of the most ubiquitous of cactus. I've found prickly pear growing wild in Colorado, near Denver, and growing up, I was given one that grew very happily in the garden in Connecticut. There's a massive wall of prickly pear near the Spouting Horn on Kauai. Most of them bloom yellow, but I've got one in my backyard that blooms red. We lost the one that blooms pink, but I've picked one up that I'd like to establish in our garden that seemed to be blooming orange. The red is threatening to take on the ocotillo for lordship of the cactus patch.
Trichocereus (Torch cactus)
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These are truly spectacular cactus. Amy will, I expect, discover them for her new house. Reesa knows about them already and loves them, as we do. I saw my first one while driving towards town one day and saw it blooming in a garden by the side of the road. It was a white with red on the outer surfaces, much like the fourth photo above. Knowing that these flowers are only good for one day (a far cry from the phalaenopsis orchids we used to grow!), I took my partner by later to see it. Took a picture with my phone and took that to a cactus seller, who pointed us to the trikes. We've been hooked ever since. These are some of the ones - a very few of the ones, we've got about three dozen - in our garden.
Teddy Bear Cholla
These are very pretty cactus. They look all warm and fuzzy, so to speak. Cholla are one of the most common cactus in southern Arizona, and one kind or another is almost always somewhere around.
BEWARE! That 'fuzz' is close-packed spines. They are VERY sharp and the little suckers are barbed.
Walking in one of the native parts of the yard once, I failed to watch where I was going and accidently kicked a cholla joint. They don't actually jump, but they fall off the plant at the slightest provocation. Anyway, the spines went through my shoe, through my sock and wedged securely in my toes. Damn, but that hurt! I had to limp up to a chair on the porch and pull them out, one by one, with pliers.
BEWARE! That 'fuzz' is close-packed spines. They are VERY sharp and the little suckers are barbed.
Walking in one of the native parts of the yard once, I failed to watch where I was going and accidently kicked a cholla joint. They don't actually jump, but they fall off the plant at the slightest provocation. Anyway, the spines went through my shoe, through my sock and wedged securely in my toes. Damn, but that hurt! I had to limp up to a chair on the porch and pull them out, one by one, with pliers.
Ocotillo
Okay, so it's not a cactus. It's still typical of the desert, prickly as can be and you have no more interest in getting close to it than you do to a real cactus.
In the dry season, they look like a bunch of sticks adorned with nasty spines, sprouting from a common base. When it starts to rain, they leaf out and become covered with little green leaves that will eventually make a mess of your yard when they fall. Before that, though, they bloom. Most - all, if you're lucky - of the stalks have blooms like this one at the ends. Those can be twelve feet or so in the air; I was very lucky with this one to have a vantage point above the base of the plant. Those blooms make it all worthwhile.
In the dry season, they look like a bunch of sticks adorned with nasty spines, sprouting from a common base. When it starts to rain, they leaf out and become covered with little green leaves that will eventually make a mess of your yard when they fall. Before that, though, they bloom. Most - all, if you're lucky - of the stalks have blooms like this one at the ends. Those can be twelve feet or so in the air; I was very lucky with this one to have a vantage point above the base of the plant. Those blooms make it all worthwhile.