Hot, Hot, Hot, … with triple-digit temperatures and single-digit humidity levels, the desert bakes in May and June.
Rooted in place, plants have to be tough to survive. In the case of the saguaro, a waxy coating on the plant’s skin restricts water loss, and spines shade its surfaces from the sun. Like all cacti, saguaros and succulents, their stems swelling and shrinking, with the intake or loss of water collected by roots – some just below the surface – spread as far or father than the plant is tall. Other plants conserve water with smaller leaves, or no leaves at all. Limberbush for example, is drought-deciduous, shedding its leaves when it is too dry.
