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"A Walk in the Garden," by Julie Hammonds
In Arizona, which can boast the third-highest biodiversity of any state in the United States, watching wildlife is easy ... right?
Sure — unless it’s summer in Phoenix and the thermometer just hit 110 degrees. Or it’s winter in the White Mountains and your sedan lacks snow tires and chains. Or the weekend is so laden with chores that the idea of taking a long drive to see wildlife makes you want to crawl back in bed.
Are you ready to visit someplace new, where you can watch wildlife in comfort and learn about habitat as you go? Then let’s take a journey together. There are places nearby where the viewing is easy and the learning is fun: Arizona’s botanical gardens.
Let’s Go for a Walk
It’s an early fall day at the Tucson Botanical Garden. Monsoon rains soaked the ground two nights ago and a light smattering of drops fell again this morning. Beneath an overcast sky, the trapped air is heavy, humid for the desert. When the sun comes out, steam rises from the dirt; though the temperature is a mild 80 degrees, shadows and shade are blessings.
A visitor can wander this 5.5-acre garden for hours, walking through a series of outdoor garden “rooms.” Some excite the senses with color, scent and motion; others showcase a type of plant (such as plants that attract birds) or a style of gardening. As we wander, and almost without noticing, we will learn about plants that feed and shelter animals in the Sonoran Desert. We also will see birds, butterflies, lizards and rabbits, and even garner ideas for landscaping our own gardens.
The dream of growing a garden on this plot of land began with the Porter family, who built a home here in the 1920s and later ran a nursery on the grounds. After the death of Rutger Porter, his wife, Bernice, opened the gardens to guests. Bernice eventually donated property to the city of Tucson to seed a botanical garden. The family’s legacy lives on: The “Porter Patio Garden” section includes trees and shrubs commonly planted in Tucson starting in the 1930s, including olive, myrtle and various citrus trees.
Tucson Botanical Garden unfolds as a series of small but perfectly satisfying rooms along a main path that curves and meanders, with side paths drawing one deeper into the garden. As we start walking, busy Alvernon Road roars nearby. Then the scent of oregano and verbena, mint and thyme in the herb garden capture the attention. The scents evoke thoughts of Italian pasta meals, colorful flower-boxes at the windows of Spanish houses, cachets tucked into drawers. The buzz of passing cars fades to a whisper as the garden says, “Slow down and use your senses; pay attention and I will reward you with beauty.”
Soon, our ears are tickled by the “cluck” of cardinals, the querulous “whit-whit” of curve-billed thrashers and the higher, more musical song of lesser goldfinches. We sit on a low rock wall beneath a tall, healthy old velvet mesquite tree that casts a wide shadow across the path, a courtyard fountain splashing nearby. As verdins chase each other through the mesquite’s feathery branches, a small dark lizard with light spots on its back does pushups on a nearby rock. A high-pitched “zee, zee, zip-zip” calls our attention to a black-chinned hummingbird perched on a nearby branch. The tiny bird is so close that we can see the powerful workings of his chest as he vocalizes for all he’s worth. Watching wildlife is easy here in the garden? — just look around.
Great Places to Watch Wildlife
In only a few hours at Tucson Botanical Garden, we can see more than a dozen species of birds, at least three species of lizards, and a living bouquet of butterflies. But Tucson’s pride is not the only such resource in the state. In venues from small to large, our communities showcase the state’s plants in a wide variety of public gardens. Here is a quick introduction to a few of the larger ones.
Desert Botanical Garden
Residents of Phoenix know the treasures to be found at the renowned Desert Botanical Garden in Papago Park. This 50-acre desert gem features trails that highlight the nature, people and plants of the Sonoran Desert, as well as wildflowers and herbs. Throughout most of the year, the watchful visitor is sure to see a wide range of birds, from tiny hummingbirds to soaring hawks. Rabbits, squirrels and other small mammals also make their homes in the garden.
There is so much to see here, and so much to learn about the region’s plants, that one visit never could be enough. Guided birding walks are offered during the cooler months, for those who want to know more about the area’s resident and migratory bird species. Other tours and special events are offered throughout the year. The Desert Botanical Garden is a rich educational resource, as well as a treat to visit, particularly for residents of Arizona’s most heavily populated metropolitan area. Walking the trails, it’s hard to remember more than 3 million people are rushing around just beyond the gates.
Arboretum at Flagstaff
The lesser-known but lovely Arboretum at Flagstaff is west of the city at an elevation of 7,150 feet. Established to educate people about water conservation and native plants of the Colorado Plateau, this small arboretum offers treats such as an herb garden with more than 250 species of fragrant and flowering herbs. Visitors might see rufous hummingbirds chasing broad-tailed hummers away from the feeders, cliff swallows careening in the sky and Steller’s and gray jays arguing in the trees. More than 100 species of birds have been sighted here. A visit to the Arboretum at Flagstaff is well worth the time for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the habitats of north-central Arizona.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
The oldest and largest botanical garden in Arizona is the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park on U.S. Highway 60 east of Phoenix. Encompassing more than 320 acres and offering plants from the world’s deserts, Boyce Thompson is the kind of park everyone in the family can enjoy. Picnic grounds beneath tall trees near Queen Creek provide a delightful spot for lunch. The park is a haven for wildlife, so don’t visit without a camera, spotting scope or binoculars, as you are sure to see something no matter the time of year. Walking the many trails here can be particularly pleasant in summer, when the higher elevation and the presence of tall trees keep the temperature livable. Don’t miss the demonstration garden highlighting ways to save water in desert landscaping?— always useful information in the Arizona climate.
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
When people think of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, they call to mind exhibits of live animals in natural-looking settings. If you’re going to get close to a mountain lion, this is the safest place in Arizona to do it. But in addition to its status as a zoo and natural history museum, the Desert Museum is also a botanical garden with 1,200 kinds of plants along almost two miles of paths crossing 21 acres of desert. With so many plants and animals to grab the attention, every visit here is different, and the wildlife watching is guaranteed: Don’t miss the Raptor Free Flight program, offered during cooler weather, in which free-flying birds of prey capture the imagination. Seeing birds and animals?— even in the context of a skillfully designed zoo habitat?— can be very educational.
These are not the only botanical gardens in Arizona, just a few of the largest and most notable. Check the sidebar “More Places to Visit” for further ideas.
Learn as You Stroll
These botanical gardens serve up a feast for the senses, every element working harmoniously to build the whole. The visitor wanders along, wondering what may be around the next turn, anticipating nothing but further pleasure. And without expending much energy or even quite noticing the process, you’re learning as you stroll.
These outdoor plant libraries and living laboratories offer more than a pleasant morning’s outing. No matter how much you already know about plants, each visit teaches something new about local, native habitats and how they support birds and animals.
During a visit to a botanical garden, even those who couldn’t care less about a plant’s Latin name won’t be able to resist checking the tag on at least one plant. Maybe its tubular flowers have attracted the attention of a hummingbird, or the scent is particularly pleasing, or you like its height and shape and have begun to imagine growing it in your own garden. These thoughts are hard to resist, and it’s best not to: The bits of knowledge picked up along the way, from the names of plants that grow well in a particular climate, to their relative water needs, to the kinds of wildlife they support, all can be useful.
In addition to helpful signs and plant tags, gardens offer plant tours for everyone from the beginning Arizona gardener to the committed enthusiast. Many offer bird walks, raptor demonstrations or other wildlife-related special events, as well. If you’re committed to the goal of learning as you stroll, a guided walk is a great way to do it.
The point of all this exercise, at least from a wildlife enthusiast’s point of view, is this: By learning about local plants in the educational environment of a botanical garden, we can better understand the natural places that exist near home.
It’s a simple equation: The more fully we understand habitat, the easier it is to watch for wildlife. What kinds of plants do deer browse at different times of year? Perhaps you can name a few. A botanical garden is a good place not only to learn more, but to identify what each one looks like. What kinds of plants do birds need? In the garden we see the answer: a mixture of species that grow to various heights, providing a variety of foods and sufficient cover. Signs and labels help us learn what these plants are, while our eyes grow accustomed to how they are arranged. Now we’re better able to recognize similar arrangements in nature, and to anticipate the kinds of wildlife we might see nearby.
Visit a garden or arboretum, then take a hike and see if your sensitivity to the local landscape has improved. Are you better able to answer the question, “Is this particular habitat providing what songbirds, deer or owls need?” A visit to the local botanical garden or arboretum informs our understanding of the natural world, preparing us to better appreciate the wildlife-sustaining qualities of natural landscapes.
Cultivating a Productive Life
Visiting a garden also can inspire us to be better stewards of whatever land we have. Your “garden” may be weeds or dirt or (horror!) lawn and ornamental plants imported from Japan; regardless, as you tour a botanical garden, at least once you will catch yourself thinking, “Hmmm, I could plant some of that whatever-it-may-be to attract (birds, bees, butterflies, etc.) to my yard.” Walking through these well-maintained outdoor spaces may inspire you to maintain and bring order to your own garden in a way that feeds and shelters the wild creatures our cities often displace.
And finally, for many, botanical gardens are places of quiet contemplation. Surrounded by bees and butterflies, birds and lizards and shy rabbits while the garden beautifully and fragrantly grows and dies all around, the thoughts one has are slightly but importantly different from those one would have while sitting inside a building. Watch for the flash of a hummingbird as it pauses to drink nectar from a chuparosa flower, and see whether joy doesn’t touch your heart. As William Shakespeare wrote, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
This article was published in the March-April 2008 issue of Arizona Wildlife Views magazine. To subscribe or give a gift, order online.
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