Trip Report: Desert Botanical Garden

I recently traveled to Phoenix for work and managed to get some free time for exploring the Desert Botanical Garden, which was conveniently close to my hotel and the airport. Before going to Phoenix I looked for some good birding hotspots and was really excited to see that one of the best places to go birding in Phoenix is a botanic garden. Two birds with one stone! (plants and birds)

While I'm at it - a bird in the hand is worth nothing compared to two birds in a bush! Who wants a bird in their hand? A bird in the bush is much easier to photograph, and you're photographing the bush at the same time! Plants and birds, that's what I'm talking about!

Phoenix is a beautiful city and I enjoyed it much more than I expected. I'm sure the 79 degree high temperature each day helped, almost 60 degrees warmer than back home.

The Desert Botanical Garden is a beautiful, well maintained garden with lots of interesting plants. The entry garden is awesome and wandering just a bit further in there is a cacophony of sound - Gila Woodpeckers, Verdins, and Costa's Hummingbirds constantly trilling, chirping, and whistling. I really liked the Desert Wildflower Loop, which was particularly buzzing with hummingbirds. The Sonoran Desert Nature Loop is in more open scenery with many Saguaro cacti in sight.

The Cacti and Succulent Galleries are made up of some large metal structures that provide shade and protection for some smaller and more tender plants, such as Lithops, Stapelia, Kalanchoe, and Aloe.

There were several Aloe in bloom while I was there. Their vibrant flowers contrasting with the wide solid green leaves are something to see.

I am not a big collector of cacti and succulents, but seeing these plants growing in mass and in their natural habitat was really fun. There was plenty that caught my eye, from the purple-tinted Prickly Pears (Opuntia gosseliniana var. santa-rita), to the spiny mounds of Jumping Cholla (Cylindropuntia fulgida), the cone-shaped Boojum Trees (Fouquieria columnaris), and the towering native Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea).

I managed to add 13 new bird species to my life list, which is more than I expected.

You can see more of my photos from the Desert Botanical Garden here.

Trip Report: Wichita wildflowers

Back in April my family went camping in the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma.  We planned a camping trip down there more than a year ago, which was postponed due to rain.  The same thing happened on our rescheduled date.  I was really happy that this time around the weather was cooperative - in fact, it was more than cooperative, it was perfect!

Plains Flax (Linum puberulum)

Prairie Larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum ssp. virescens)

A significant motivator for camping in this location is that the Black-capped Vireo, an endangered species, nests in this area and it is one of the few places in the United States where this species can be reliably found.  I was successful with the vireo and added a total of 7 new species of my life bird list (Black-capped Vireo, Cave Swallow, Black-headed Grosbeak, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Chuck-will's-widow, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow).

Black-capped Vireo

unusual white form of Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa)

We saw some other wild animals besides birds - rabbits, TONS of prairie dogs, bison, and lizards.  Ever since the Oklahoma Virtual Spring BioBlitz in April I have been logging as many wild living species as I can - plants, animals, insects, fungi, what-have-you.  I spent a lot of this trip taking pictures to upload to iNaturalist.org.  And once we were home I spent a lot of time trying to identify everything I had seen.  Each picture is a fun puzzle and process of discovery.

Variegated Fritillary

Lace Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii)

There were many wildflowers in bloom in the Wichitas - Opuntia, Yucca, and Echinocereus cacti, Gallardia, Gaura, Linum, Castilleja, Delphinium, and more.

Opuntia

Opuntia with pollinator, Kern's Flower Scarab

My full album can be seen here:

OKC Cactus and Succulent show

Before diving in, I must confess that cacti and succulents are not my passion. There are a couple of groups that interest me, like Stapelia and related genera. I decided to stop by the show and sale of the Central Oklahoma Cactus and Succulent Society last weekend because I figured it would be interesting to see, take photos and learn more about these plants.

Rhytidocaulon macrolobum

I was surprised to see more plants of interest to me than I had expected. The "show" plants were neat, but primarily plants that I enjoy looking at and that I don't have a great desire to grow myself. However, I found many plants on the vendor tables that were of interest to me. The first being the plant pictured above and below. Maybe you think it's ugly, but look at those awesome black flowers!

Rhytidocaulon macrolobum

There were quite a few Pachypodium on display and for sale (sorry, no pictures). I had just been giving a tour at the Myriad Gardens on Saturday afternoon, where the Pachypodium are 10 feet tall!

Euphorbia knuthii

There were so many Euphorbia I couldn't count them. As I was telling my tour group, Euphorbia has to be the most diverse genus I know. If you read my old post on Euphorbia you would have seen everything from the Poinsettia to the dangerously spiny plants, like the one I purchased this weekend.

Euphorbia cylindrifolia

The Euphorbia pictured below has a growth habit more like Mamillaria (those spherical cacti with spines all over them).

Euphorbia valida

Dyckia marneir-lapostellei

Check out the ghostly colors of the Dyckia and Crassula.

Crassula deceptor

The little Avonia was quite adorable. It looks like a miniature and really doesn't look real.

Avonia quinaria v. alstonii

You have probably already seen my cucumber orchid. Now I see there is a cucumber succulent!

Senecio pendula

Sansevieria has quite a dedicated following. This show had two plants, one being the famous Sansevieria masoniana, with big floppy leaves. The other was more to my liking, Sansevieria scabrifolia.

Sansevieria masoniana 'Mason's Congo' and Sansevieria scabrifolia

Most of the plants I am showing won an award, but the cactus below won "Best Cactus." Check out that long fur hanging off of the pads.

Opuntia tequiliana - look at that fur!

The only Stapelia-like plant in the show was this Huernia. It was a really big plant that is supposedly just 3 years old. It must be a vigorous grower.

Huernia thuratii

I ended up purchasing 4 plants, 1 of which was an orchid. I had been told by some friends that Eulophia petersii is easier to find at succulent shows than at orchid shows, since it likes to grow so dry. I was talking with a vendor at this show and he was telling me about how he once heard someone describing this plant as having "orchid-like flowers"...

Huernia hystrix

Two of the plants that I purchased are from my Stapeliae: Huernia hystrix and Stapelia hirsuta. The S. hirsuta is the one that gets really hairy flowers. It is also probably the species that is most similar to my Stapelia gigantea, which grows really well for me. So I feel confident I can get it to bloom eventually.

Stapelia hirsuta

The last plant I purchased is the Euphorbia, which I mentioned earlier in this post. Dangerously spiney!

Euphorbia aeruginosa

I don't plan to become a cacti and succulent addict, but I would like to go to this show again in the future. There were definitely some neat plants.