Description

Arizona Pipe Dream
Organ Pipe Cactus at Dawn, Ajo, AZ
Bloomed June 6, 2023 (Stenocereus thuberi)

20×20 oil on canvas

Organ Pipe National Park in Ajo, Arizona is the only place in the United States where these catus grow. If you want to see them bloom, visit at dawn in early summer. The blooms are not as large as Saguaro’s, but they are not as lofty either. Many times, the blooms will be at eye level, such as this one.  Plants are usually 35 years old before they have their first blooms and are pollinated by the long nosed bat which migrates from Mexico.

Historically, people have been exploring what is now southern Arizona for hundreds of years, for hundreds of reasons. But it was the European pioneers who gave the Organ Pipe catus its common name. Apparently, its skeleton reminded them of the musical instruments they had seen in their past lives. Humans do that, in an effort to understand something new, we compare it to something we once knew. To the O’odham people, the Organ Pipe cactus has been a part of life for generations. The appearance of fruit meant harvest time, which was a community ritual that resulted in delicious jam or wine, that they shared with hungry pioneers.

What a strange land Arizona must have been to most Pioneers. They were dreaming of a big life in the west. They probably never dreamed they would eat fruit from a cactus. How sweet that must have tasted.