Visiting the World's Number One Desert Botanical Garden: Arizona's Succulent Garden
Thanks to Xianrou Kuangren for the material
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. As it happens, Kuangren was eyeing the special exhibition that only members could enter, when suddenly someone behind me asked if I was interested. It turned out to be a lady who had also come to see the exhibition. Setting the exhibition aside, her voice was one that anyone would find hard to refuse. After chatting for a while, she used her permissions to grant us entry, and along the way quite earnestly introduced the must-visit spot in Phoenix: the Desert Botanical Garden. I thought to myself, what a coincidence, I came to Phoenix precisely for this botanical garden.
From the widespread recognition among all the experts, one can glimpse the success of this botanical garden, and its ticket price, even more expensive than that of the major national parks, further highlights its dominance. Although the groups it collects lean toward the obscure, it has a long history, excellent collection quality, and exquisite garden design, all of which place it among the most brilliant handful of botanical gardens worldwide. Of course, such a famous botanical garden already has more than one travelogue on the forum, so here I will explore every bit of design in the garden with a more meticulous eye
Landscape arrangement at the entrance-
A beautiful small legume shrub-
Slender milkvine, this one closely resembles the white-stemmed milkweed Asclepias albicans native to this state, one of the host plants for the monarch butterfly. The garden happens to be calling on everyone to join the milkweed campaign, that is, for every household to plant more milkweed to help the monarch butterfly, whose numbers have plummeted in recent years~
Strong-spined cactus types, almost the season when the fruit can be eaten-
Strong-spined cactus types, almost the season when the fruit can be eaten-
Agave parryi, this variety is native to Arizona-
Fouquieria columnaris, the type species of the ocotillo family-
Myrtillocactus geometrizans in flower, it will later bear blue berries too-
Seeing Colorado's state flower again, Echinocereus triglochidiatus, planted in Arizona it blooms a full several months earlier-
Seeing Colorado's state flower again, Echinocereus triglochidiatus, planted in Arizona it blooms a full several months earlier-
Agave schidigera-
Pachycereus marginatus, the famous cactus used for fences-
We've reached the entrance; everything before was just strolling around in front of the parking lot-
Just inside the gate there's a souvenir shop, which also sells plants-
Selenicereus anthonyanus--
Hesperaloe parviflora, an extremely common one in gardens around here; it's called yucca but it isn't actually a yucca
Dasylirion wheeleri, native to Arizona, likewise called yucca but not a yucca, the tuft of hair at the leaf tip is great fun~