| Out to the east of
Phoenix is the Boyce Thompson SW Arboretum, Here at the entrance is an agave
"century" plant. |  |
 |
In the entrance is a sales area where you can buy plants. Sadly we can't
take any of them home. |
| Butterflies are always
beautiful and some plants really attract them. |  |
 |
This is a succulent euphorbia (devil's club) from the Canary Islands. |
| Another succulent with a
large flower from Mexico. |  |
 |
This turban hat is a melocactus from Brazil. |
| This is a beaked yucca
from Texas and Mexico. |  |
 |
For obvious reasons this is known as a fishook
barrel cactus. |
| A large prickly pear, the
red fruits of which are edible. |  |
 |
This is known as cholla. |
| I'm not sure why but this
is called beargrass. I didn't think they had bears down here. |  |
 |
A Monstrose totem pole cactus from Baja California. |
| Well it is Pinal schist
which is a pre-Cambrian aged form of volcanic rock which is fairly unique to
South East Arizona. I looked it up and read three articles on it of which I
understood about one word in three. |  |
 |
At one end of the arboretum is a reservoir which helps the trees and other
plants to survive in this otherwise desert environment. |
| Just a nice mix of
colours in an otherwise harsh landscape. |  |
 |
The red is a pistache tree and the pale green is cottonwood. |
| If this area is for
rattlesnakes only then I'm going to leave them to it. |  |
 |
This is an aloe. It can be a valuable crop and is used extensively in
shampoos and cleansing products. |
| Most colours here are
quite washed out so a dark plant is unusual. |  |
 |
Saguaro cacti. These are common in gardens in the Phoenix area where they
can cost $1000/foot. They grow from sea level to 4000ft but cannot cope with
freezing temperatures. These may well be 150-200 years old. |
| Scott Schaefer is a local
artist who makes and plays didgeridoos. |  |
 |
Finally we have eucalyptus trees but no koalas since this is not Australia
despite the didgeridoos. |
|