Back To Warm Arizona Gardens

End of May and we’ve been back from Arizona a little more than 3 weeks. We figured our gardens would be in by now. We’ve had plenty of time, we just haven’t had enough warmth.

Even the madman’s classic “don’t plant gardens until May 15” was thrown out by a killing frost on May 16. The temperature is just darned cold at night – too cold for heat-loving summer vegetables. Tomatoes drop their blossoms at 55˚; peppers do the same at 60˚; eggplant, squash, cucumbers and pumpkins stall between 60-65˚. And flowers don’t fare much better.

Go Back To Warmth

So, since we can’t tell you how great things are in our gardens, let’s go back to Arizona where temperatures are warm, and the gardens are blooming. In our last blog, we told you about Tucson.

We left the 90˚+ temperatures of the Tucson Valley and headed north. We crossed the White Mountains and drove through some seriously interesting scenery known as the Painted Desert. Our destination was Petrified Forest National Park – we entered from the south.

Petrified Forest

The fossilized trees strewn throughout its borders give the park its name. Millions of years of geologic change created both the Painted Desert and this national park. It is the best place in the world to see fossilized records from the late Triassic Period, some 225 million years ago.

Only one road runs through the park – a 28 mile stretch lined with overlooks and short hiking trails. Interestingly, Petrified Forest is the only national park that still contains a section of the old Route 66 – a stretch of road marked by a 1938 Studebaker. I liked walking through the ruins of an old Pueblo Village while the madman enjoyed the massive petrified logs. The park closed before we could visit the Pained Desert Inn – always leave something to return for, the madman says.

Canyon de Chelly

After a night at the Bunkhouse in Holbrook, AZ, we headed north to Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Canyon de Chelly has an interesting, but sad history. It is one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes in North America. And it contains countless ruins of bygone civilizations, an archeologist’s dream. The sad part is marked by the Navajo’s last stand before the U.S. Army removed them from their homeland and confined them to reservation life.

As a kid growing up on 1950 TV westerns, the madman always viewed Kit Carson as a hero. In reality, he was actually quite a villain. Under his command, the Navajo people who were not killed were forced to walk hundreds of miles to the Bosque Redondo Reservation in New Mexico. By 1868, our government realized that this reservation was not working and many were allowed to return to their native lands. The U.S. granted the Diné Navajo 3.5 million acres of land inside their four sacred mountains. They returned to Canyon de Chelly. Today, Navajo Nation controls 16 million acres in the area.

Too Much Water

Unfortunately, snow melt in the far-away mountains caused flooding within the canyon. The Park Service canceled all tours and hikes along the canyon floors. We had to settle for the long-distance viewing of the ruins from the rim drive. From these vantage points, the views into the canyon were spectacular, but the madman really wanted to get to the bottom.

It’s always hard to leave such beautiful surroundings, but we did have a dinner date with the madman’s cousin in Phoenix. Off we went, crossing the Painted Desert and traveling old Route 66 through Winslow, Arizona before re-crossing the White Mountains heading south.

Connecting With Relatives

What a great evening we had. Distance and time evaporated as we talked about lives connected by the thread of grandfathers who left Poland so many years ago. It was interesting how music played a big part in the lives of each branch in the family. We met again during our time in Phoenix and vowed to stay in touch over the coming years.

Phoenix is an interesting city. It contains countless parks offering a variety of hikes. We had the luxury of local relatives who were full of suggestions. Unanimous suggestions were the two botanical gardens.

Desert Botanical Garden

We started at the Desert Botanical Garden. The 140-acre garden showcase located in Papago Park contains nearly 50,000 plants. Cacti and wildflowers were blooming and hummingbirds and butterflies were still arriving from southern areas.

Just walking through the various gardens and exhibits like the bird and butterfly houses would have been enough. But the madman signed up for a “Behind the Scenes tour” of the propagation greenhouses. As luck would have it, we were the only two people on the tour.

Behind The Scenes

John, our guide, took us through the Hazel Hare Center for Plant Science. Here, staff, researchers and volunteers are growing, studying and preserving a world-class collection of desert plants. The seed bank housed here maintains a collection of over 4,000 different seeds. Although primarily focused on plants of the Sonoran Desert, the seed bank contains seeds from all over the world.

As John took us into the first greenhouse, he mentioned the center has over 80% of the world’s cactus and succulent species housed in several large greenhouses. The first greenhouse contained cacti, the next was a greenhouse full of Agaves. But when we hit the Euphorbia collection, the madman’s brain short-circuited. What a great experience to see so many different species in one spot – each one labeled correctly. When we left the museum, we both felt that the “behind the scenes” tour was a highpoint of our cactus-viewing trip.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Our next excursion was to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in the mountains an hour east of Phoenix. Here, we found a variety of hikes in addition to the cactus viewing. The arboretum houses a large variety of desert plants in natural settings. With the garden design, we had to work to appreciate the beauty of the plants. So, we hiked through nearly 5 miles of trails representing 11 different regions of the world. Despite the warnings of rattlesnakes, we even took the higher trail. With hours to spend, we just wandered through the blooming desert. If you find yourself in Phoenix, it’s worth the hour-drive to see this place. Bring your hiking shoes.

Casa Grande

We still had one more national monument to see before heading home – the Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge, Arizona. Standing in what seems to be the middle of nowhere, Casa Grande, or the great house, rises four stories above the remains of an ancient agricultural community. Who knows what secrets lie within the walls of this great structure or in the sand of the village’s central ball court. The site had been long abandoned when first discovered by Spanish missionaries in 1694. The madman says we are lucky that despite the harsh conditions of the desert this building and surrounding ruins are preserved as well as they are.

We were hoping to bring some warmth back with us, but it is cold. Overnight temperatures are in the 40s and that does not make for happy pepper plants. Memorial Day Weekend started to show some promise, but the madman still isn’t ready to move his Reapers and Scorpions outside.

And I’m still making hot cocoa; time for a cup.