Vegas Myths Busted: Saguaro Cactus Grow Here

Posted: January 13, 2025, 08:04 pm.

Last updated: October 18, 2024, 09:34 pm.

A recent documentary series about Las Vegas from CNN aimed to clear up the facts about Sin City once and for all. So you'd think they wouldn't get any of their facts about Las Vegas wrong before the series premiere. Yet the saguaro cactus is prominently featured in promotional artwork for “Las Vegas: The Story of Sin City”.

saguaros can do Grow in Las Vegas, but only if they have been grown for several years in their native habitat (or an approximation of it) before being replanted – and only if they have been regularly treated like palm trees and other non-native vegetation. Water is given regularly.

That's how Arizona Charlie's Casino grows out of its casino at Decatur Boulevard and Boulder Highway.

But the only places on Earth where saguaros grow wild are the Sonoran Desert of Arizona (where their flower is the state wildflower), the Mexican state of Sonora, and California's Whipple Mountains and Imperial County areas.

Las Vegas is located in the Mojave Desert, which is too dry for any saguaros and, in the winter, too cold for youngsters.

Las Vegas averages about four inches of rain a year, half that of the Sonoran Desert, and occasionally drops below zero, which rarely happens in the Sonoran.

The Mojave is on the Sonoran border just south of Kingman, Ariz., and the sudden appearance of saguaros there marks the transition.

understood the myth

It's easy to assume that any designer of saguaro-adorned Vegas merchandise and artwork has ever been in the Mojave Desert. And, even though they visit Vegas often, they behave like most tourists and don't spend much time outside – other than walking to a different casino resort along Las Vegas Boulevard.

Many tourists' only view of the real Mojave is from their airplane window, as at thousands of feet high many details are difficult to discern – such as Complete absence of saguaros!

However, it's also possible — and we like this explanation — that CNN and the NFL's project managers aren't so ignorant.

Perhaps, because they are so talented that they are hired by such elite institutions, they realize that the saguaro is not the symbol of Vegas.

Perhaps they also reported the error to their supervisors, who responded that they knew too, but went ahead and used the graphic anyway.

And maybe that's because the saguaro is still the most recognizable natural symbol of the American Southwest, even though it is found everywhere in the region.

Hey, it's in the background of every “Road Runner” cartoon we all grew up watching!

So just let it go, okay, Harrison? We're in the business of marketing preconceived notions here, not getting every little detail right.

Watch “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday Casino.org. visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read the first Vegas myths busted. Do you have any suggestions for a Vegas myth that needs to be debunked? Email corey@casino.org.