Desert Botanical Gardens: Chihuly

 

Today I was lucky enough to explore the botanical gardens in Phoenix Arizona. The Desert Botanical Gardens are full of interesting cacti and desert plants. Some of the thoughts which are conjured up when one thinks of the desert are sand, maybe a cactus, or a scorpion, but this is not the case. The desert is alive and there are a lot of things to see. It is as much alive as any tropical forest, swamp, or lake. It's ecosystem never ceases to amaze me. Each time I look a the desert I see something new or learn new forms of life I learn they not just live in these harsh conditions, but they thrive.



The plants were not the only spectacular thing I got to see on this trip. The event that is currently running in the botanical gardens is "Chihuly in the Gardens". This is a lot of blown glass sculptures throughout the gardens. These glass pieces are mixed in with the plants and they look amazing.  Some look like science fiction and remind me of shows like Dr. Who where alien creatures blend in completely unnoticed. These are defiantly noticed, but they look like they belong and were placed by someone with an incredible sense of design and good taste. The forms are mostly very obvious and some use color that is not found naturally in the desert.

Several pieces of the glass match with the gardens that are surrounding them. Some of them were just by themselves, like the wooden boat full of glass. It was tucked away in a pond with the reeds. It was a beautiful piece of art, with bright red, yellow, and green glass sticking out like octopus arms. I was relaxing to watch it in the water while the blue cubes behind it drifted aimlessly, bumping the reeds gently. It was a little bit windy than normal today as well, so the art moved with it.




There are many different types of cactus, I will not bore you by naming a bunch of them. I will just tell you that there are too many to name and they have families just like any other plant. They survive on very little water and a lot of heat. Surprisingly cactus are pretty sensitive despite their harsh conditions they live in and their tough exterior. The prickly pear are my favorite. Small and mighty. They have a lot of needles and they are small. It would be very easy to just step into them if you were not paying attention. They also have a couple of different colors and sizes.




A lot of the cactus have fruit that grow off of them and they can be used for various things. This is where Ethnobotany comes in. Ethnobotany is the study of how people interact with plants. The way people interact with desert plants have a very long history.  Some has been used as medicine, some as food, some as fuel for fire. Cactus with all it's prickly dangers has been very useful to people that live in the desert. They supply a lot of resources in a harsh environment.

Fairy Duster

There are other plants in the desert that attract bees, butterflies, and birds throughout the desert. There are even plants that bloom specially at night to attract bats and this is the way the plant is pollinated to reproduce. Most of the night blooming plants are white and pale yellow. One desert flower which was my favorite to see was the Fairy Duster. It was such a cool looking flower on a bush.






The desert plants already look like beautiful sculptures made by nature. The glass with them is the perfect contrast of color and light. They blend almost seamlessly in some places and don't

Where I went: www.dbg.org 

Here is some more pictures. If you live in the area this tour is well worth it. The place is bigger than it looks. 

Glass sculptures in the Garden

Agave