Desert Plants

Saturday we walked in the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, located about 25 miles east of our resort.  We hadn't been there for years.  

The plant displays were grouped by what desert they are native to.  We saw plants of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts that are near here as well as the Australian desert.  We have never been to Australia and I don't think of it having deserts, but I guess the outback is one.

The Chihuahuan desert covers much of West Texas, the middle and lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower Pecos Valley in New Mexico.

The Sonoran desert covers large parts of the southwestern United States, northwestern Mexico, and Baja California.

Many of the plants we saw, we are familiar with because we have been spending our winters in Arizona since 2009.  Unfortunately, didn't keep track of which gardens illustrated which desert.

This tree has a thick trunk, making me think it isn't native to the Sonoran desert.  

Saguaro cactus are very familiar.  I love them.  There is even one growing in the front yard of our winter home.  In this photo, you can also see prickly pear cactus.

There were lots of golden barrel cactus.

We learned the difference between yucca and aloe cactus.  The yucca grow more like trees.

This rock is thickly covered with yellow lichen.

Like I said, it has been several years since we were last at Boyce Thompson.  We didn't remember these stands of large trees.  They certainly are beautiful and provide a lot of shade.

Certainly an unusual cactus with an unusual name.

More of the large trees, with low desert shrubs in the foreground.

This display of Australian boomerangs was interesting.

Perhaps this tree is native to Australia.  I don't think I have ever seen one like it.

Pretty sure these are Australian plants.

This cactus is neat.  We see them often in our resort so I imagine they grow in the Sonoran desert.

This is really unusual bark.

A small ramada, providing shade for visitors.

If you aren't in to living plants, this metal and glass prickly pear is pretty.  The base is made of railroad spikes.

This attractive cactus garden highlights the entrance to the arboretum.

 

Flowers and Sculpture

Even though it is early Spring at the 7,000 ft. altitude here in Flagstaff, we saw quite a few flowers during our visit to the arboretum. A few of the blooms were outside.

Others were inside the greenhouse where they are propagating plants they can put out when the weather and soil get a little warmer.

Part of the temperature control in the greenhouse was interesting. These water towers absorb heat from the air during the day and give out heat at night.

There was also an interesting sign in the greenhouse. Notice Flagstaff receives, on average, about twice the snow that Denver does

We also passed an area where they were starting native grasses. The ground is covered with ground cloth, probably to both keep out weeds and warm the soil for faster growth.

The garden areas also had a number of sculptures that were interesting.  At the visitor center they had a listing of the sculptures and the price of each, "in case you have an extra $1,000 or so to spend."

We even found one carved wood statue.

A Walk in the Woods

Today we visited the Flagstaff, AZ, Arboretum.

We have spent lots of time over the years in Ponderosa pine forests and it felt good to be in one today. In places we had great views of the San Francisco peaks.

We think this is the Flagstaff Naval Observatory, which is nearby.

We saw Stellar Jays and horny toads, as well as mountain bluebirds and black-capped chickadees. (No photos of the last two.)

This is one of many bird houses attached to trees. Though this one looks broken, there was what appeared to be a fresh nest inside.

We are at 7,000 feet above sea level so the temps are much cooler than what we left in southern Arizona. There was a brisk wind and the temperatures were in the upper 50s. Look how we were dressed, both to walk around and during a stop for lunch.

There were lots of school children exploring the arboretum.

We saw numerous signs and information about the importance of fire and thinning to keep the forest healthy. Here we saw signs of a fairly recent controlled burn to remove smaller trees and encourage growth of native grasses.

There were lots of wild flowers, both those blooming outdoors and others in the greenhouses where they propagate plants to improve the natural vegetation. We also saw numerous sculptures in the gardens. I will save those for later posts.