Across The USA by Dodge
Chapter 9
Desert Botanical Garden and The Apache Trail
In Phoenix I visited the Desert Botanical Garden (1201 North Galvin Parkway) which is full of different varieties of cacti and other desert plants. I haven't got a "green thumb" but it was thoroughly enjoyable. I just love cactus. They're so amazingly beautiful yet dangerous. "The Look but don't touch" attitude.
The Garden is part of the Papago Park complex which includes the Phoenix Zoo and is situated on 145 acres of low Sonoran Desert. They have a massive display of desert plants such as the barrel cactus (ferocactus), golden barrel cactus (echinocactus grusonii), creosote bush (larrea tridentata), a huge bed of mammillaria and coryphantha, hedgehog cactus (echinocereus), cow-tongue prickly pear (opuntia lindheimeri), chain-fruit cholla (opuntia fulgida) and teddy-bear cholla (opuntia bigelovii), candellilla (euphorbia antisyphilitica), desert willow (chilopsis linearis), ocotillo, joshua tree (yucca brevifolia), the similar looking cardon (pachycereus pringlei) and saguaro (carnegia gigantea) plus firecrackers (justicia) and paloverde (cercidium) of various colours.
The Boojum Tree (fouquieria umnaris) is quite interesting. They're also called the Upside Down Tree and the name comes from Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark".
The Creeping Devil (stenocereus eruca) is brilliant -- they grow along the ground in dense colonies, taking root as they creep forward about 8 inches a year at one end while dying off at the other.
The chain fruit cholla mentioned above, which is also known as the "jumping cholla", is just plain evil and is so named because the stems (which break-off at the slightest touch) really do seem to jump out at you. If you wander a little too close they'll reach out and stick into you and you'll be pulling out spines for days.
In the afternoon I was originally going to visit the zoo but decided instead to drive out along the Apache Trail where I had lunch at a little place called Tortilla Flat. It's in the middle of the Superstition Mountains which was a gold prospecting area last century. You might have heard of the Lost Dutchman mine. All that's there now is a general store and a saloon with a really great atmosphere. The seats at the bar are saddles (climb on up pardner) and they serve beer in mason jars. There's stuffed animal heads (coyote, bear etc.) on the walls along with thousands of dollar bills and business cards tacked up. And the food tasted real good to boot.
Chapter 10
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