They grow ONLY in the Sonora desert — Arizona and Mexico. They are also the ONLY tree that can survive the heat and dryness. The wood is so heavy, it sinks in water.
I found one in a front yard in Phoenix that had been really well cared for and got a lot of shots of it. When you see them in the desert, they don’t look “healthy” in a way that we usually mean healthy, although for an ironwood, they really are fine. A most interesting tree!
The one in Phoenix was unusually big because whoever owned the property had been really caring for it. When a limb got too heavy, he had it lopped off (properly) and sealed so there were many huge twisted limbs. You don’t see that much in the desert. The big limbs usually just fall off onto the desert floor. But give these old guys some help — and water — and it’s amazing what they look like.
What character those gnarly old trees. I have a picture of an olive tree that is suppose to be over a thousand years old. It was growing in Tunisia.
Leslie
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It’s almost as if the lines of the tree describe the torture of trying to live in such a difficult climate (at least difficult for a tree.)
janet
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The ironwood actually is too heavy to float! It’s one tough tree.
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Top pic tree looks like they tried to use it to hang Mongo and Gronk. The Hanging Tree lost.
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Hello Ironwood tree, I have never met you before.
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They grow ONLY in the Sonora desert — Arizona and Mexico. They are also the ONLY tree that can survive the heat and dryness. The wood is so heavy, it sinks in water.
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It’s not the weight, it’s the density.
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It still sinks.
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Direct quote from your post; “The wood is so heavy, it sinks in water.” Heavy, implies “weight.”
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I stand corrected.
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Love what you did with this. Each casts such a different take!
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The complexity of it is amazing. The really OLD ones are so twisted, you can barely follow the lines of a branch.
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Isn’t that amazing? It’s beautiful in and of itself.
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Magnificent shots of the ironwood!
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I found one in a front yard in Phoenix that had been really well cared for and got a lot of shots of it. When you see them in the desert, they don’t look “healthy” in a way that we usually mean healthy, although for an ironwood, they really are fine. A most interesting tree!
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I enjoy seeing them in the SoCal desert too — Anza Borrego State Park (west of the Salton Sea) is full of them, though not usually so large.
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The one in Phoenix was unusually big because whoever owned the property had been really caring for it. When a limb got too heavy, he had it lopped off (properly) and sealed so there were many huge twisted limbs. You don’t see that much in the desert. The big limbs usually just fall off onto the desert floor. But give these old guys some help — and water — and it’s amazing what they look like.
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What character those gnarly old trees. I have a picture of an olive tree that is suppose to be over a thousand years old. It was growing in Tunisia.
Leslie
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We had some ancient old olive trees in Israel. I think they cut them down to build condos.
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They seem to live a long time. What a shame to cut them down. I know this old tree was still producing olives.
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