Welcome to Arizona--albeit belatedly! I'm lucky enough to live northeast of Tucson and even more lucky to live on a property with saguaros. I also find it frankly impossible not to perceive them as sentient and relatable much in the same way as a human. At this point I don't even bother trying to change this view of them. ;-)
"..but it’s really the climate and geology and plant life that make a place what it is." I can only agree! I've lived in the Midwest and in California, and each place has a beauty and identity all its own. But the desert--for all its stark strangeness--is the only one that really gives me a sense of home.
Wow, Boaz! Nomi just visited that garden while she was climbing with friends in Cochise. And I am visiting her now, and we have been enjoying the majesty of the saguaro cactus as well. I can't wait to come back to this area of the country, which I don't know at all. So many different ecosystems!
I've been to those botanical gardens in Tucson. I love that they put hats on the cacti to keep them from freezing. And fleece too. I lived on the Havasupai Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon when I was in VISTA. I did my training in Tempe, and spent another month in Phoenix. I prefer living in the Pacific Northwest, but I do love to visit the desert.
I live in Phoenix, so I find greenery, especially in chilly weather, pretty exciting. We usually go on vacation somewhere like Vancouver or New York in Autumn so we can marvel at the trees.
I rode a bike from Scottys Castle in Death Valley to San Diego for 11 days-- moving through and camping in the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree, and Anza Borrego Park. The later was my absolute favorite, which is strange because it is a state park but the Oasis in the middle of the desert blew my mind. I saw so many plants and life I'd never seen before. It was a VERY HARD ride, up and down, but a trip of a lifetime!
I've spent a great deal of time in Baja California where the Saguaro's sibling, the magnificent Cardon, grows along most the peninsula, some upwards of 50-60 feet! Those along with the Boojum Trees, Elephant Trees, Agaves, and otherworldly rocky landscape make it a very surreal ecosystem.
The Sonoran Floristic Biome of which Arizona and Baja are part of are near and dear to my heart growing up on the west coast (my landscape design/install company was even named Sonora Botanica!).
I have never seen a cactus garden with winter protection - it looks like my garden with its ghosts in early spring for the late frosts! Thanks for sharing your visit
That fake tree reminds me of a Pilea. (I think they're also called Chinese Money Plants. Mine has never brought any money my way, but I do like him all the same.)
And I forgot to mention that I live in Northern CA —about 100 miles south of Santa Rosa, where Luther Burbank built his gardens. And someone planted a huge number of Luther Burbank’s spineless nopal cacti in a ravine a block from my house. The spineless nopal are dotted through the ravine, filled with beautiful native California red oak — it’s very odd, but I like seeing the cacti because they remind me of the ingenuity of Luther Burbank. Here’s an article about Luther Burbank’s hybrid cacti http://www.lutherburbank.org/about-us/specialty-gardens/spineless-cactus
Love your take on artificial plants. I think the same about plastic grass -- if you need a tough, hard surface, do something artful rather than a bland plastic shag carpet. Or at the very least, do a cool shag carpet that maybe lights up or glows when you walk on it....
Those saguaros ... they do render a landscape mysterious. I’ve never seen them outside of botanic gardens and would adore to travel to the desert to see them in their environment. Weirdly, a landscape that felt alien to me was full of silvery birch, which is a native tree here in UK. But this forest was just outside St Petersburg, and it was a forest JUST of birch. And in winter, it was a mysterious sight... thousands upon thousands of bare trunks, their white turning grey against each other as their vertical lines receded ...
Welcome to Arizona--albeit belatedly! I'm lucky enough to live northeast of Tucson and even more lucky to live on a property with saguaros. I also find it frankly impossible not to perceive them as sentient and relatable much in the same way as a human. At this point I don't even bother trying to change this view of them. ;-)
"..but it’s really the climate and geology and plant life that make a place what it is." I can only agree! I've lived in the Midwest and in California, and each place has a beauty and identity all its own. But the desert--for all its stark strangeness--is the only one that really gives me a sense of home.
Wow, Boaz! Nomi just visited that garden while she was climbing with friends in Cochise. And I am visiting her now, and we have been enjoying the majesty of the saguaro cactus as well. I can't wait to come back to this area of the country, which I don't know at all. So many different ecosystems!
Thank you for sharing this, we are planning to travel from Australia to this area at this time next year and this was fantastic to read xo
I've been to those botanical gardens in Tucson. I love that they put hats on the cacti to keep them from freezing. And fleece too. I lived on the Havasupai Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon when I was in VISTA. I did my training in Tempe, and spent another month in Phoenix. I prefer living in the Pacific Northwest, but I do love to visit the desert.
Wow! 🌵 🎩 ! What lovely humans.
I live in Phoenix, so I find greenery, especially in chilly weather, pretty exciting. We usually go on vacation somewhere like Vancouver or New York in Autumn so we can marvel at the trees.
I rode a bike from Scottys Castle in Death Valley to San Diego for 11 days-- moving through and camping in the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree, and Anza Borrego Park. The later was my absolute favorite, which is strange because it is a state park but the Oasis in the middle of the desert blew my mind. I saw so many plants and life I'd never seen before. It was a VERY HARD ride, up and down, but a trip of a lifetime!
I've spent a great deal of time in Baja California where the Saguaro's sibling, the magnificent Cardon, grows along most the peninsula, some upwards of 50-60 feet! Those along with the Boojum Trees, Elephant Trees, Agaves, and otherworldly rocky landscape make it a very surreal ecosystem.
The Sonoran Floristic Biome of which Arizona and Baja are part of are near and dear to my heart growing up on the west coast (my landscape design/install company was even named Sonora Botanica!).
I have never seen a cactus garden with winter protection - it looks like my garden with its ghosts in early spring for the late frosts! Thanks for sharing your visit
Great pictures They really convey the sense of this wonderful garden. Thanks!
That fake tree reminds me of a Pilea. (I think they're also called Chinese Money Plants. Mine has never brought any money my way, but I do like him all the same.)
And I forgot to mention that I live in Northern CA —about 100 miles south of Santa Rosa, where Luther Burbank built his gardens. And someone planted a huge number of Luther Burbank’s spineless nopal cacti in a ravine a block from my house. The spineless nopal are dotted through the ravine, filled with beautiful native California red oak — it’s very odd, but I like seeing the cacti because they remind me of the ingenuity of Luther Burbank. Here’s an article about Luther Burbank’s hybrid cacti http://www.lutherburbank.org/about-us/specialty-gardens/spineless-cactus
The plants and birds in Hawaii are fascinating and gorgeous — completely different from anything I’d ever seen.
Love your take on artificial plants. I think the same about plastic grass -- if you need a tough, hard surface, do something artful rather than a bland plastic shag carpet. Or at the very least, do a cool shag carpet that maybe lights up or glows when you walk on it....
Those saguaros ... they do render a landscape mysterious. I’ve never seen them outside of botanic gardens and would adore to travel to the desert to see them in their environment. Weirdly, a landscape that felt alien to me was full of silvery birch, which is a native tree here in UK. But this forest was just outside St Petersburg, and it was a forest JUST of birch. And in winter, it was a mysterious sight... thousands upon thousands of bare trunks, their white turning grey against each other as their vertical lines receded ...