Part 3: Tucson Botanical Garden

20210416

The Trip

We had a down-day and decided to go see the Tucson Botanical Garden.  Located in the center of town, TBG is an oasis in the center of an otherwise dense urban environment.  Established many years ago (when the location was on the outskirts of town) the city has grown around the facility.  We had been there before some years back, and it was just as nice as we remembered.  And, as a plus, the garden was awash in spring blooms.  Most of the cactus were in bloom and were displaying complex, colorful flowers.  I took nearly 200 photos and have culled them down to 34 for this page.  Plenty of "really nice" photos did not make the cut for publication.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

Right at the entrance to the garden we spotted this butterfly working the flowers.  The wind was blowing hard and the bushes were moving wildly.  The solution was for
Kathleen to hold the branch to stabilize it for this shot.

The entire Tucson valley was blooming and the local Palo Verde bushes were particularly happy.  In the spring they sport bright yellow flowers.

A closeup of the Palo Verde shows the complex structure of the flowers.

A similar kind of Palo Verde was blooming nearby.  Note that the flowers are similar, but not identical to the other bush.

There were plenty of creosote bushes also sporting bright yellow flowers and white seed pods.  The cactus in the foreground is an Organ Pipe cactus.

There were literally hundreds of species of cactus at the TBG.  Note the complex structure of this bloom.  Also note the long spines on the cactus.

The prickly pear (beaver tail) cactus were in bloom with big, bright red flowers.  Note the yellow pollen specks on the flower petals.

I failed to note the flower species, but if I were a bettin' man, I would go with verbena.

Some of the bushes had sparse, small flowers.  Size notwithstanding, the flower had a nice structure.

For whatever reason, there were plenty of lizards in the garden.

Look at the length of the spines on this small cactus.  These spines are about 4" (100mm) long!

The garden had a nice stand of Golden Barrel Cactus.  Many of the barrels had blooms.

A closeup of one of the blooms shows the intricate inner structure.

A slightly different view of a different bloom shows both the male and female parts of the flower.

There were a number of "furry" cactus in bloom; this one caught our attention due to both the hair and the odd flowers.

A closeup (crop) of he flower shows what looks like a tongue.  While it looks fuzzy and smooth, touching would be a really bad idea as the fur hides brutal spines.

Some smaller, furry cactus were nearby.  It was hard not to notice the anthropomorphic nature of one of the cactus.

Close was another anthropomorphically-accurate cactus.

Some of the blooms had complex inner structures with a flower-within-a-flower.

Another large lizard.

This species had flowers of a totally different kind.



This cactus was a ground-creeping species with thin stalks and flutes with plenty of spines.



Another odd species with pale orange blooms and complex inner structure.



The young buds were protected by spines.



A nice stand of furry cactus.



Long spines protect this complex bloom.



The spines on this species of barrel were huge.



This pin cushion had blooms as well but the tight spines of the cactus caused the autofocus algorithm of my Sony A1 to have a seizure.  I attempted to use manual focus, but I was moving too much to make it work.  Trust me, these blooms are tiny, about the size of a grain of rice.





Another good-sized lizard.



A ground-creeping cactus had blooms that were structurally similar to unrelated species.




This cactus was similar to a hedgehog, but the bloom structure was quite different.



There was also a nice garden with standard flowers.  Note the complex structure of the bloom on the right.




There was a "food garden" that had artichokes.  I had never seen artichokes on the bush.



Some nice blooms near the exit to the gardens.

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2021, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.