Cacti

We had visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix on two previous occasions, but our visit a few days ago was the first durinng the day.

"Set amid the red buttes of Papago Park, the Desert Botanical Garden hosts one of the world’s finest collections of desert plants. The Garden has over 28,000 individual plants that represent more than 4,000 plant species." (Desert Botanical Garden's web page).

This group of agaves greeted us just past the entrance.

Several of the plants were identified, but many appeared in the Garden without identification.

The yellow cactus is the Whortleberry Cactus. In the background is part of the Cactus and Succulent Galleries.

The tall cluster of stems make up the Organ Pipe Cactus. In front of this cactus are some Bunny Ears Prickly Pear Cacti.

The Botanical Garden covers over 50 acres and includes 10,000 specimens in its cactus collection.

This was one of the smallest, but most colorful at this time of year, cactus we saw.

A few of the varieties had these early starts to flowers.

To see cacti in bloom will be a good reason to visit the Botanical Garden in another couple of months.

Looking at the projections from this cactus, you can see the "fishhooks" which give this cactus the name Fishhook Barrel Cactus.

The purpose of the Desert Botanical Garden, according to the 1937 Articles of Incorporation "shall be to exhibit, to conserve, to study and to disseminate knowledge of the arid-land plants of the world, with special emphasis on succulents and the native flora of the Southwestern United States."

The Statement of Corporate Purpose was amended in 1984 to include the study of the ecological context of desert plants, and to emphasize water conservation and the role of desert plants in landscaping.

Maybe it's because the desert plants and cacti are so new to us, but seeing them used in landscaping around homes, schools, and businesses is a different type of beauty--one that is growing on us.