Desert Botanical Garden - Phoenix

While we were in Arizona, the weather was gorgeous. Clear, sunny blue skies and temperatures in the 50's. I'm sure that is cold for native Arizonians, but to us it felt wonderful. We visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix the day after Christmas, where we got to enjoy the beautiful weather and see the area's plantlife. 

This botanical garden opened in 1939, consists of 140 acres, and contains over 50,000 plants. Suffice it to say, there was a lot to see. The garden's map shows that their are five trails, each with a different theme. Three of those trails include sections that have been specifically designed and planted, such as the butterfly garden, hummingbird garden, edible garden, and herb garden. The two larger trails wind out through the natural area so you can see just what the Sonora Desert is like.

We walked around the shorter trails first, looking at all of the plantings. They have a lot of different cactus and succulent varieties. Some I recognized, but there was a lot that I didn't. I've always liked succulent plants, so this was a real treat for me.

The garden sits near these really cool red sandstone hills. They make a striking backdrop for the gardens and I snapped more than one picture of them throughout our wanderings.

I couldn't believe the size of some of the cactus they had there.

This yellowish "furry" cactus is the teddy bear cactus. It looks so soft and cuddly, but I wouldn't recommend hugging one.

I don't think I could choose a favorite area of the gardens -- I liked both the landscaped and natural areas just the same.

These octopus cacti were interesting. They were growing throughout the garden, and some were even "climbing" up nearby tree trunks.

Brian and I laughed when we learned the name of this tree -- it's the boojum tree.

Roses! Blooming in December! They smelled so nice.

Like I said, they had some gigantic cacti. This is the organ pipe cactus. You can see where birds have drilled holes in it's branches.

There was a whole section with agave, yucca, and Joshua tree plants.

This funny-looking plant caught our eye near the shade garden. It's lobed branches look like brains.

There was even a small shade garden. This section had a lot of blooming plants and smaller succulents.

The spines on the fish hook cactus were pretty intense. They were wide and thick and wouldn't bend when I pushed on one. I'd hate to get bitten by one of those.

I loved all the saguaro cacti. I knew that they were big plants, but it's hard not to be amazed when you are standing right next to one.

The saguaro dotted the landscape that the nature trails wound through.

We found a saguaro skeleton standing next to one of the nature trails. It was fascinating. I didn't realize that they had a wooden skeleton, but it makes sense. They would need a sturdy interior frame to support their tall and heavy limbs. The skeleton was hollow inside, but its walls were extremely rigid.

Look at that beautiful blue sky!

It was fun just being out together and getting a chance to stretch our legs as we wandered around looking at all the interesting scenery.