Broyce Thompson Arboretum

The whole point of our road trip down the Salt River Canyon was to get to the Broyce Thompson Arboretum. We had heard of it but never been there. It was well worth it the trip. It did cost about $12 each but after seeing it we decided it wasn't that much considering what we were able to see. And we didn't see all of it. It is a loop walk of about 1 and a half miles, with side trips into the different garden areas. I just couldn't make the whole walk with the side trips. Broyce Thompson started his huge cactus garden back in the 1920's so that people could see all the wonderful cactus there.

This 'rock' is right outside of the gardens.

I knew it had probably been close to 40 years since I had been to southern Arizona where you can see the Saguaro cactus. These cactus only grow in southern AZ, a little bit of CA and some of the country of Mexico. Some of the Saguaros are over hundreds of years old as it takes that long to get that big. It is nothing for one to be 50 to 75 feet talk. There are long spines all up and down the cactus. Of course it was the wrong time of year to see them blooming which is usually in the spring. They are a big beautiful white blossom. Saguaro's can be home to many different birds and some small mammals and reptiles. Woodpeckers are known for hollowing out small holes in the Saguaro's so they can nest in the. Owls, wrens, mockingbirds also nest in Saguaro's.

Inside the Arboretum were hundreds of different cactus from the US and other countries.

Sarah and her dog, Ruby. Me in the next photo. Don't know what kind of tree this was but it was a cool tangled mess

Nice fountain.

This is one of the original rock homes with older green houses on each side of it.

This tree is called a pony tail palm or elephants foot. It is not a palm but many people have them in their homes as house plants. I have one that my mom got about 35 years ago. It was only about 6 inches high them and now it is 6 feet tall with a 'foot' of about 2 feet.