During our annual winter vacation to Arizona for 2025, my wife and I got out of Phoenix for a half day and drove an hour southeast to visit the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Situated on 372 acres of scenic upland Sonoran Desert, it is Arizona’s oldest and largest botanical garden. The arboretum was founded by William Boyce Thompson, an American engineer, financier, and philanthropist who created his fortune in the mining industry. He built a winter home, the Picket Post House, in the early 1920s overlooking Queen Creek near Superior, Arizona. He then established an arboretum in 1924 on the land surrounding his house. Thompson understood the importance of plants as the ultimate source of our survival and well-being, and even today his appreciation of the power of nature is evident at Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park.

The arboretum is the home of desert plant collections from around the world, arranged in clearly defined sections of the park, from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Madagascar, India, China, Japan, Israel, South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Arabian Peninsula. The park contains over 20,000 plants with winding paths leading visitors through trees, shrubs, grasses, cacti, and a cornucopia of flowering species. The signage is just right – not obtrusive but offering plenty of detailed information. The park also includes some beautiful artwork, arbors, shade structures, water features, and benches. There is a lovely gift shop and nice restrooms at the entrance.

We strolled around the paths and through the various sections of the park, marveling at the incredible diversity of specimens, from tall trees to the tiniest thorny cacti. Most of the plants obviously belong in a desert climate, but some of the trees look like they would be right at home in a city park anywhere in the world. Color abounds, texture is all over the place, and the shades of green seem almost limitless. Everything looked so lush, so alive when we were there. We did notice signs of a drip irrigation system in several areas, which may mean that some of the species require more water than is available in the Sonoran Desert environment. There are even a few endangered species in the park, and plant conservation is a big part of the organization’s mission.

The drive over to Superior from Phoenix is a pleasant one, with magnificent views of the desert landscape and Superstition Mountains to the north. The park is open most days of the year, with hours of operation changing according to the seasons. They have a great website at https://btarboretum.org/ from which most of the information in this post is gleaned. Arizona is a hiker and cyclist paradise, with thousands of miles of trails throughout the state. Outdoor recreation opportunities are almost endless. I would include the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in the long list of places where visitors can enjoy the beauty of nature in a confined space, where the physical challenge isn’t so great, but the rewards are substantial.