Cactus Jolt

I make it a habit to start the day by just gazing out the back door for a few moments. This morning I was totally shocked. So shocked that I I immediately ran out the door to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

This is the base of an Arizona Senita cactus that was planted in my backyard last May. It's immature - just one "leg" rising up to the height of my nose, secured by a wooden stake.

Alright, so why was I so excited? It's GROWING!!! For the first time I saw this four inch "arm" sprouting from the base. AND...there's another little sprout on the front! When it was planted I thought it would take 30 years to grow.

I had an idea in my head of what I thought it will grow to look like. But not until I was researching it today did I realize that it could get up to twelve feet tall. In my wildest imagination I thought perhaps it may look like this. But most of the pictures I saw were more like these.

My backyard may be an overgrown cactus forest five or ten years from now. I may regret Spring of 2012. But this morning, I was one excited desert dweller.