Texas Gypsies: Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Today, along with some new friends, we went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum. There was just a sign on the the side of the road that our new friends noticed. We were all very pleasantly surprised at the size and beauty! William Boyce Thompson established the Southwestern Arboretum in the mid-1920’s. The inspiration to create an arid-region arboretum sprang from a lifetime of fervent interest in things botanical, horticultural, and natural.

We saw lots of kinds of cactus and various succulents. Most did not have signs telling us what they were. For that reason I may not say much below many of the pictures.

Notice the tree with green bark. It is a Palo Verde tree. It does not have any leaves. As most of us know, green leaves are what most plants use for photosynthesis. Since this tree does not have any leaves, the photosynthesis process happens through the green bark.
Amazing!

I believe this is a Totem Pole cactus.

There were humming birds everywhere. Tic got a really good shot of this one.

My hand is there for perspective to size. Interesting.

This beautiful view shows several kinds of yucca blooming. We saw lots of blooming cactus all over the park.

This twisted tree is a moonah tree. It is in the myrtle family and from Australia.

There was even a Rose Garden area. Who would have thought roses in the desert. As you can see by the picture above and the 3 below, there were several kinds of roses.

This is the historic Smith Building. It was the original Visitor Center. Erected in 1925, it is constructed of rhyolite, a native stone quarried locally.

This section is called the Childrens Garden. There were lots of flowering plants with various color flowers.

Here's Tic's dead "tree" for this post. It is actually a dead saguaro. The dried inside you see can be used to make very sturdy furniture.

There are a few informative gazebos along the many hiking trails that tell about the various plants near the gazebo.

This flower to the left is the start of how the flower opens.

The flower to the right shows the flower open and a new bud growing out of it. Unusual!

I really like these large blooming yuccas!

Tic caught this hummingbird resting. Great picture!

I really like these Totem Pole cactus--NO thorns. I think I want some for my new winter home in Arizona.

Doesn't this flowering cactus look so soft. NOT The spines are so very small and dense that it looks soft.

The picture above of this beautiful purplish flower is a closeup of the cactus below.

The flowering prickly pear cactus are so beautiful!

These yuccas grow as tall as trees.

According to a bird watcher nearby, this is a black cardinal. She gave us the scientific name but I don't remember it. We did not know there were black cardinals.

Look how tall this prickly pear has grown. I wonder if it was groomed to grow tall instead of spread out wide???

Our new good friends, Kevin and Donna are from Boston.

The mountains around the park made for awesome photos.

The arboretum even made this nice resting spot by a spring.

Isn't this family of barrel cactus interesting?? You can tell how big they are by looking at the trees and bushes around. They are fairly big.

The upper 4 pictures are some birds we say around Ayers Lake which is the picture below. It is a very small lake fed by well in the park.

Another view of the lake.

I'm sure glad they were able to train the rattlesnakes to stay where they are supposed to. Ha Ha!

This lizard was just in front of the rattlesnake sign. Guess he knows his place also.

This unique house was built by Boyce Thompson for him and his family. He named it the Picket Post House. I don't remember why he named it that and cannot seem to find the answer on the internet. What you see is the last of 4 buildings originally built in the late 1920s.

Here are the four of us cooling off in a shallow cave with a bench for resting. It was getting hot by now.

The walkway along Queen Creek was narrow here. However below it got wider and the trees covered the path.

This suspension bridge spanned across Queen Creek. It is dry now but we were told that when the monsoon rains come in the summer it will be flowing.

This is the Clevenger House. It was next to the Herb Garden where a large variety of herbs were growing.

This sundial was put there by the Clevengers. Isn't it romantic???

The bark on this tree is interesting. Per the sign, this tree is native to South Africa.

After our walk through Boyce Thompson Arboretum, we drove 4 miles to Superior and ate lunch at Porter's Cafe.