Boyce Thompson Arboretum 
On Friday we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum which is about a forty five minute drive east from our place in Mesa. It is located near Superior, Arizona.  I have been wanting (and whining) about going here since we got here in December.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day and we got there for the 11 o'clock guided tour.  I hope you don't think that I wasn't paying attention but sometimes I just had to stop and take a picture or just stand and look in awe and consequently I failed the test at the end of the tour. I constantly had to run to catch up to the rest of the class.  The tour was great but I really need a few days to walk around this park and really see all the gardens.   In fact, if I could go there once a week for the rest of my life it would be the best!
The drive there was even amazing.  We saw a lot more rolling hills than we have in any other area around.  It seemed a greener, due to the rain we have had and also the elevation. 

There are many areas that you can branch off the approximately 1.5 mile wandering trail that we went on.  There is a 3 acre cactus garden,  Heritage Rose Garden, Ayer Lake, the Eucalyptus Forest, a legume garden and the Magma Ridge Riparian Area.

The cactus garden was amazing.

This is a lemon flowered gum tree.  This is just one of many varieties of gum trees that were on display.  They are a part of the eucalyptus family and many were from Australia.  The really neat thing about a lot of  these trees is that the bark peels off in long ribbons and leaves a smooth surface.

There were amazing displays of agave, yucca and aloe plants   Look at the tall flower stalk of this agave.
http://www.allaboutagave.com/
 Each rosette  grows slowly to flower only once. During flowering, a tall stem or "mast" grows from the centre of the leaf rosette and bears a large number of short, tubular flowers. After development of fruit, the original plant dies, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem, which become new plants.
Some have little plants that grow out of the flower stalk as well - sort of like the spider house plant.

I honestly could not believe what I was seeing as we walked along the Queen Creek Canyon.  It was fantastic.

Ayer Lake, a man-made reservoir, supplies the arboretum with irrigation water. The lake has two areas that offer excellent views of the surrounding area.  It has been stocked by the state with two species of endangered native fish, the Gila Topminnow and the Desert Pupfish. After we passed by the lake we walked up into the mountains and were amazed by the rock and plants.

This is just a close up example of the "texture" of the rock.  It is formed from volcanic ash that packed in around larger rocks.  Where you see the holes is where the rocks have fallen out.  There was a lot of bright green lichen on the rocks.

                                                                                                      Off to the left of this next picture you will notice an ocotillo.  I thought they were just dead cactus of some sort until I read up on them.  They are starting  to leaf out.  The leaves form along the stalks and they get a red flower on top.                   

 I still can't believe I got to see all this! It is really hard to imagine from the photos but I hope you get the idea.

 Do you see Don there?

 It was really nice walking alongside the rock and looking down.

This red looking growth and the other thicker dead looking growth to the left of it is called mistletoe.  It is a parasite.  It grows red sticky berries that stick to the birds.  As the birds fly from tree to tree the berries stick to the branch and the mistletoe grows right on the host plant.  Some trees are loaded with this mistletoe, it does not generally kill the tree.

This stone and mortar building was home to a family of five in the early 1900's

These are pomegranates (very small and dried up pomegranates)

 This is a very pretty cardinal.  I was so disappointed I could not get a closer view of this bird that it has prompted me to plan a camera shopping trip for next week.

 They call this Red Gum Eucalyptus "Mr. Big"  It is 8 feet in diameter and is over 100 feet tall. It was planted from a sapling in 1926. They can grow 6 - 10 feet a year when young and have a very aggressive root system.

 There is an interpretive centre that  has two greenhouses attached to either side. One greenhouse highlights cacti from around the world, and the other showcases succulent plants in other plant families.  This one caught my eye because it looks like it has cupcakes on top.  They also propagate and sell a lot of plants from this facility.

I thought this was pretty funny and could not resist adding this to the blog.  Up to you to figure out what I had to make up because I was off taking pictures, looking at birds and generally being in awe and not listening to the teacher.