Entrance to the Phoenix Botanical Garden
This is the first in a series of posts about my travels to several National Parks and other points of interest in northern Arizona and southern Utah.
Five years ago, my husband and I had an opportunity to visit the Phoenix Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. It was our first visit and, at the time, there was a special exhibit of Chihuly glass. We were on our way to Tucson for the HSCG annual soap conference but spent a few hours enjoying the Garden before heading south to Tucson. Although that exhibit was no longer hosted by the Botanical Garden, I was happy to see that three Chihuly glass sculptures remained near the entrance. The vivid green glass sparkled in the sunshine.
Five years ago, my husband and I had an opportunity to visit the Phoenix Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. It was our first visit and, at the time, there was a special exhibit of Chihuly glass. We were on our way to Tucson for the HSCG annual soap conference but spent a few hours enjoying the Garden before heading south to Tucson. Although that exhibit was no longer hosted by the Botanical Garden, I was happy to see that three Chihuly glass sculptures remained near the entrance. The vivid green glass sparkled in the sunshine.
The Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden is located in Papago Park near the Phoenix airport. It encompasses 140 acres of the beautiful Sonoran Desert and more than 50,000 plants, including the stately saguaro cactus, which is found no where else in the world, except in the Sonoran Desert. Saguaro cactus grow very slowly. After ten years the stem may be only 1.5 inches tall, but in time, the saguaro reaches heights up to 60 feet and can grow over 25 arms. And that takes a very long time,150 to 200 years!
Saguaro cactus sentinels
A variety of cactus including organ pipe, cholla, and prickly pear
The deep red fruit of prickly pear and beavertail cactus was ripening. Unlike the saguaro cactus, prickly pear are found in various places around the world, even in Florida where I live. The fruit can be eaten, after the tiny spines are removed, and in Mexico prickly pear fruit is used in many food dishes. I remember my mother making jelly from prickly pear fruit many years ago when we lived in Tucson.
A purple prickly pear cactus
Prickly pear fruit
This one has ruffled pads
Cacti typically bloom from late March to June, but even though it was late September, some cactus flowers were open. Cactus flowers are pollinated by insects, birds, and bats. The spines are actually modified leaves, not thorns, which protect the cactus from hungry desert animals. Cactus are uniquely equipped to store and conserve water in the arid environment in which they grow. Their succulent stem is able to absorb and hold water. The ribbed stem expands as it absorbs water and shrinks in times of drought. A large saguaro can absorb up to 50 gallons of water during a rainstorm.
Cactus flowers
A small cactus blossom
Insects visit cactus flowers
This grey bird paused long enough for me to snap a picture. It is a curved-bill thrasher and generally lives in the southwestern desert regions of the United States where cholla, ocotillo, and saguaro cactus grow, along with mesquite and palo verde trees.
Curved-bill Thrasher
Cholla cactus, Mesquite trees, and a really big red rock
Lime green branches of a Palo Verde tree
Speaking of trees, this is a type of aloe. It looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, doesn't it!? There are over 580 species of aloe plants and over 200 species of agave plants.
Tree aloe
Another species of tree aloe
So what's the difference between an aloe and an agave? Both are drought tolerant and grow in hot, dry, sunny environments. But an aloe will bloom multiple times, while an agave flowers once and then dies. Some species of agave take up to a hundred years to bloom and are known as century plants. The inside of an aloe contains a gel-like substance that can be used on burns. Its juice has medicinal qualities. Agave is fibrous and some species are used to make rope. From the core of other agave species, juice is extracted and processed to make the sweetener known as agave nectar. Blue agave is used to make tequila. Agave have sharp spines, while aloe's are fleshy. Agave are larger plants than aloe and live much longer.
Pointy purple agave tips
 Aloe |  Agave |
Many types of plants and animals thrive in the hot, dry climate of the Sonoran Desert. And that sunny September day was HOT, over 100 degrees, while we walked the garden paths. We had brought several bottles of water which we drank, and I carried an umbrella to help block the sun. I'm always on the lookout for a sun star, and the sun did not disappoint.
But it's a DRY heat
We rested for a while and drank more water under this wooden shelter. Oh, that blue, blue sky!
I loved seeing so many different textures, both natural and man made, at the Phoenix Botanical Garden, including this metal sculpture of a saguaro, a colorful wall, and a unique sundial.
Saguaro cactus often have holes where birds make their nests.
Colors of the Southwest
Colors of the Cactus Sundial
She adorns herself in purple At the end of our visit to that lovely garden in the Sonoran Desert, I bought a souvenir from the gift shop, a sun hat with a purple rim, which served me well during the rest of our time in the beautiful American West. Our first stop was the Phoenix Botanical Garden. We ended our adventures ten days later at the nearby Hole in the Rock.
In the weeks ahead, I plan to share more photos from our trip. If you'd like to receive an email notice of when they are posted, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter. Otherwise, stop by now and then to see what's new.
~ Debbie
Click here for post Two in this series.
In the weeks ahead, I plan to share more photos from our trip. If you'd like to receive an email notice of when they are posted, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter. Otherwise, stop by now and then to see what's new.
~ Debbie
Click here for post Two in this series.
A purple spined cactus
