Text and photos by Noel Stevens
One of the most pressing issues in the Phoenix metropolitan area right now is water, specifically the allotment and conservation of it since supply is limited. Different municipalities handle the issue in different ways. Scottsdale, for example, has a tax rebate program that incentivizes homeowners to replace their lawns with artificial turf or native foliage.
What’s becoming clear as the water crisis rages is that desert cities and their inhabitants are going to have to get creative in the face of climate change, and some solutions may well be found in a decades-old tourist attraction. No institution knows the value of native plants better than Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, a verdant park that takes visitors into what life in Arizona is really about.
The 140-acre attraction was founded in 1939, and the garden features more than 50,000 plants, encompassing 4,482 species, 485 of which are rare or endangered. Through its blog, on-sight signage and community programs, the garden aims to showcase its role as a responsible water user and to educate visitors. Their mission statement reads, “[our] commitment to the community is to advance excellence in education, research, exhibition and conservation of desert plants of the world with emphasis on the Sonoran Desert.”
One notable plant on the garden grounds is the blue palo verde, which is actually the state tree of Arizona. Any spring-time visitor to Phoenix will undoubtedly notice the yellow trees with green trunks towering over them wherever they go.
The palo verde is native to the region and is well-adapted for it. The tree is hardy and fast-growing, and its green bark aids in photosynthesis. This is just one example of how well the garden utilizes native plants for both beauty and practicality, providing shade to park guests and other plant life.
Besides the state tree, Arizona also has a state flower, which is the milky white blossom of the Saguaro cactus. While these don’t bloom until early summer, the yellow blossoms of the violet prickly pear cacti can be found blooming wildly throughout the botanical garden during spring. Most varieties of prickly pear cacti are native to Arizona and this section of the Sonoran desert.
Cacti, especially the Saguaro variety, are integral to Arizona’s natural ecosystem. Signage above playfully explains how different animals rely on, and utilize, the cacti common throughout the desert. Not featured on the poster is how birds, usually owls and woodpeckers, will burrow into tall Saguaros to nest.
In such a harsh climate, the relationship between plants and animals is a delicate one, and everything has its purpose. The palo verde’s falling seeds, for example, will sustain the region’s small animals for some time after the trees stop blooming in the spring.
Pictured on the left is one such bird bungalow typically seen on a mature Saguaro cactus. Pictured on the right is a more spiny varietal of the prickly pear cactus. Some cacti, like the jumping cholla, which is covered in microscopic hooklike needles, inflict great pain when they are touched.
The garden recently launched a project titled the Saguaro Census. Led by the garden’s expert in succulents, the initiative hopes to involve the community and aims to better understand how the cacti adapt to Phoenix’s now-urban environment.
Flowering bushes like the lantana camara seen above can be found in the butterfly and bee gardens peppered throughout the grounds. These sections reflect an important mission for the garden, which is an effort to attract pollinators to the region. The lantana family of plants is not native to Arizona, but they have proven valuable as they are drought-resistant.
The garden features a wide variety of wildflowers. The evening primrose (left) is native to the Americas and enjoys Arizona’s dry climate. As one sign in the garden explains, wildflowers tend to thrive along boulders as accumulating soil and pockets of shade create microclimates within the desert.
The authenticity of the garden’s plant life can be seen through its animal life. Lizards, rodents, doves, quail and any number of insects roam freely, enjoying the garden’s riches.
Pictured above is the terraced entrance to the garden as sunset approaches. Glass sculptures by famed artist Dale Chihuly are on display until mid-June.
The Desert Botanical Garden is open all year. It lies within the city of Phoenix proper and borders Scottsdale to the north.