Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  Better every day

By:  Kim Stone 

Photos: LCGross

 

For those of you that are lucky enough to live in Globe,  Miami, Kearny, Winkelman, Gold Canyon, or Apache Junction, Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a mere 30 – 40 minute drive from your front door. 

As close as it is, there is a strong likelihood that some of you haven’t visited the Arboretum since you were kids, or if so, not since the first term of the Reagan administration. It’s understandable: How can a world-class destination like Boyce Thompson Arboretum be reached in the time it takes to bake a tuna casserole, and yet stack up to more distant attractions that require more time, gasoline, and traffic to get to?

It’s a question best answered by loading up the kids and the dogs (yes, you can bring the dogs) and making the short trip to Boyce Thompson Arboretum at the base of Picket Post Mountain, where Queen Creek and Silver King Wash converge, and where 100 feet tall volcanic cliffs rise above three miles of trails and 40 unique gardens and plant exhibits. 

This is the spectacular geologic location where multimillionaire investor Colonel William Boyce Thompson was perceptive enough to create “the most beautiful garden of its kind in the world” nearly 90 years ago.

The 323 acres of gardens and natural areas contain over 12,000 plants from across the arid land regions of the planet, with the largest collections from Australia, South America, and the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of North America.  

Most of the of the tallest, broadest, and most mature trees, shrubs, cacti and other succulents were planted during the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s and they continue to have a dominant presence throughout the many exhibits at the Arboretum. But in the last 25 years, a true resurgence and refocus of purpose has taken place, and if it’s been a while since you’ve visited, now’s the time to find out what you’re missing. 


Crossing Queen Creek or Silver King Wash used to be challenging or impossible during heavy rain events, but with the construction of the Benson Outback Bridge across Silver King Wash and the 130 feet long Berber Suspension Bridge over Queen Creek, the only chance of getting wet is from the rain above, not the water below. The eight-acre Australian Desert Exhibit was completely redesigned in the early 1990’s and now includes eight defined plant communities from the arid outback with authentically replicated Aussie buildings, an Aboriginal ceremonial area, and an ethno-botanical garden. New this year is the completion of Papuana Pass and the Bottle Tree Grove.

Easily seen from the highway is a thatched-roof, shade structure known as a “quincho.” It’s constructed from materials imported from Argentina and is thought to be the only one of its kind in the U.S. It forms the entrance to the newly enhanced South American Desert Exhibit where more than a dozen, large Argentine saguaros and other large cacti were planted last summer. These fetching, columnar cacti contribute their bulk and character to the other 700 South American plants added to this exhibit since 1993.


Even though Boyce Thompson Arboretum has created exhibits from eight of the world’s deserts, it also has a number of specialty gardens that feature plants more related to each other than to a particular region of the world. It’s the Arboretum version of plant nepotism and one example is the Taylor Desert Legume Garden, where plants in the bean family are grown and arranged according to their importance as food, fodder, industry, medicine and ornamentals. Other gardens include the collection of fragrant, old garden roses in the Heritage Rose Garden and the historic masses of golden barrels and other succulents in the two acre Cactus and Succulent Garden.

The Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden (known affectionately as the Hum-But) and the Wing Memorial Herb Garden are two slightly different specialty gardens because they are designed with plants combined by their usefulness rather than their genetics.

The newest garden of this type is the Children’s Garden where kids can become a sundial, experience a living rainbow, find their way through a bamboo maze, and even make a frog croak.

With an invaluable membership program, frequent photography and horticulture classes, weekend bird, reptile, butterfly, tree, and geology walks, festivals that celebrate plants, music and culture, year-round plant sales, and a “top-shelf” bookstore, Boyce Thompson Arboretum has evolved to become a world-class botanical garden. It’s still the same pretty place to picnic, and it’s still just as close as it always was, but now -- today – it is so much more.


Please visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum on-line.  Classes, Calendar, News and Information about the Deserts of the World and more.

*Published in the Summer Edition of Globe Miami Times 2010