Hyatt Regency Scottsdale-Gainey Ranch

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This is a shot along the entrance drive. Sorry, I tried to flip it in photobucket but it only fixed it in my album.

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This was in the lobby.

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Another cactus bowl.

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A shot of the pool with bouganvillias (sp) above waterfalls

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Nice pics. We were just in the desert too and I thought the desert plantings were really interesting. I was looking for "water-wise" ideas that would be useful for our area. One of the good lessons, is to use native plants and just have a dripper at the base of each plant -- not broadcasting water.

Nice pics. It must be really mild there for Agave macroacantha to flourish. It may be dry here but we have to choose hardier species.

There's just something about that desert landscape.....

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Did you go to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix?

Here is a link that might be useful: My photos from the DBG

No, we did go to Tucson, Benson, and Phoenix. Spent most of the time looking at real estate. We will definitely check out the DBG on the next visit though.

If you're shopping for real estate down there, can you buy a house in Tucson for me while you're at it?? :-)

Of those areas I would choose Tucson. It's not quite as blazing hot, flat, and spread out as Phoenix and the mountain views are interesting. It's still mild enough to grow all kinds of cool stuff and the cactus nurseries are the best anywhere. I think Tucson might be the only city with a section for 'cactus' in the yellow pages.

If you're looking at botanic gardens, you should also visit the Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum in Superior. DBG is great as well, but I think it is actually so hot there that some desert plants don't perform as well as at a little bit higher elevation.

ROFL, I saw a post from you earlier and toured your photobucket site and was going to say that with all the desert shots there was no way you were in the PNW. Now I get it. I was just in Dallas and the climate's almost the same there. I'll take the Evergreen State over there any day! Great pics though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden

Ian,

We have a dear friend in Benson which is like 4700 feet I think she said and they are 10 degrees cooler than Tucson. I took some pics of my project down to share with her and we co-miserated at what each of us couldn't grow that the other one could. There's even things that she can't grow that Tucson can.

The Phoenix area real estate is much cheaper than the Tucson area because of that temp differential but we really liked Red Rock which is about 50 minutes or so from Tucson fairly close to Picacho Peak. Half the fun of entertaining the idea of a place in the SW is thinking about landscaping it :-)

I have been to the Phoenix Botanical Garden and the Boyce Thompson Arboretum In Superior several times. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. I'm afraid the moss on my back would die.

Trading green for brown straight up would be a deal breaker for sure but as you say, it's a great place to visit. We are looking more as a vacation/winter place to visit often but never stay too long :-)

I lived in Phoenix for fifteen years and my house and garden were full of plants. Houseplants grew very well because of having so much light and I grew many outside as well. I did not grow many cactus but did grow gorgeous roses and tropicals. Had my first waterfall and pond there too. I desperately miss the sunshine, swimming and year round horse riding and gardening without mud.

We used to go camping at Picacho Peak. Lovely scenery, great hiking, the site of a Civil War battle and wild burros would visit the campground for hand outs. I haven't been south of Phoenix for about ten years. There are houses now around Picacho? that is sad.

The DBG focuses on different plants that Boyce Thompson but both are worth a visit. The Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson is the best of the three, both zoo and botanical garden all of native plants and animals.

Tucson does have a better climate than Phoenix but thinking you can only grow cactus or have a brown yard is mistaken for both. You don't have to use tons of water to have lush and tropical either. It is really sad that so many just aren't informed gardeners there. So many hideous yards. Ditto Palm Springs and Las Vegas.

The problem is not so much choosing between brown or green, it's keeping it green in absentia. Initially, it would be a max once a monther for a number of years until retirement and even then probably only 3-6 months a year. Unless or until we could figure out a barter, say some watering etc for some salmon or the like, it wouldn't make much sense to get too exotic with the flora :-) This summer my project will finally be more enjoy and less slave and I'm not going to want to pass on finally enjoying the fruits of my labors.

Benson is another climate entirely. Quite a bit of what grows there would also grow in a sheltered garden here, with the right soil prep.

If I were going to try to have a garden in the Southwest and be absent half the year, I would just plant mostly cacti and succulents. But that is because I like them a lot. I'm sure there are other trees and shrubs that would thrive with no extra irrigation.

We visited friends in Palm Desert and they are changing their landscaping to mostly native plants that don't need extra watering once established. They are snowbirds. I thought their garden very attractive. Interestingly, I asked if their HOA was encouraging water saving and they said they were not.

I have family in Phoenix and visit every winter. It's always shocking to me how little concern there is down there for things like conservation of water and other resources, recycling and so on. Very sad.

There are now tons of plants that don't need supplemental irrigation once established. A drip system on timers would be the way to go for watering when gone.

Used to be that only cactus, succulents and local natives like brittlebush, creosote and palo verde were possible but now there are hundreds of plants. Many from Israel and Australia.

The DBG and Boyce Thompson arboretum both are very concerned with water conservation and xeriscaping and show home owners ways to do it and still have a lush yard instead of barren gravel with a palm or two and a cactus.

We are going back down to Phoenix next week and I plan to visit the Desert Botanical Museum. Saturday is the grand opening of the new state of the art Sybil B Harrington Cactus and Succulent Gallery so we thought we'd go check it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Botanical Garden

Wish I were going with you. Have fun. Take your camera.

IMHO the best chicken chimichangas, chips, salsa and margaritas in the world are at Rosita's in Tempe, corner of University and Hardy, not too far from the DBG.

That's not fair.

The butterfly garden should be going too, there is a line usually but it is worth the wait.

We just got back last night and had an absolutely lovely and enjoyable time. After having lost our second parent in 3 months, the time away was so needed. We stayed at a condo in Fountain Hills with a view of the fountain. The bougainvillea was in full glorious bloom everywhere and was stunning.

We picked an overcast day to go to the Garden and it was awesome. I'll try to get some of my pics off the camera and onto photobucket this w/e. My wife was manning ( or is that wo-manning) the camera so not sure what all she got but all kinds of cacti was blooming. The hummingbird garden, in particular, was a blast because we were up close and personal and they acted like we weren't even there.

Here's a view from our condo.....

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Bougainvillea at our condo.......

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View of Papago desertscape

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Hummer Garden

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Prickly Pear

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Another shot

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Desert in bloom

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Nice shots of the Four Peaks and Papago Butte. I'm glad you went to the DBG, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I always do.

Were the Gambel's Quail running around? They are so cute.

There are many species of hummingbirds in the desert. Many think it is barren but it is not....

I have three Bougainvillea in my greenhouse but they don't look that that....

We've been going down for about 25 years, mainly for the Arabian horse show and have probably driven by the DBG a hundred times never even noticing. I actually thought about you as we were going through. Thanks for the tip !

Yes, the quail were running everywhere and the wrens were flitting about and the hummers were thick. My wife has always loved the prickly pears, especially the ones with the purple tint and they were gorgeous. We spent half the tour saying purple prickly pear three time fast :-)

My sister bought a new home in Gilbert and if she can be patient, I promised her I'd do her courtyard. She has a wedding coming up quickly and was going to just throw some stuff in there so she could entertain. It's a Tuscan style two story with only a 10' x 40' +/- side yard on one side but I love a challenge. I drew it up on the plane coming home. Like many people down there, she's a recent transplant and when I was trying to explain to her about using more desert native type plant material, she just looked at me funny. Since it may be awhile till we buy our own down there, this would give me a chance to practice.

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Do you have Arabs?

I seem to have been born horse crazy.
I used to go to the Aid To Zoo horse show every year. It was at the coliseum. I've been to the Scottsdale Arabian show too and even showed, once, at the big half Arabian show back in the late 1970's. I've toured Lasma and shed a tear outside the stall of the immortal *Bask++.

I have recently returned to riding though not an Arab and have won a few ribbons at local schooling shows. Glad to be back in the saddle.

I'm glad you enjoyed the DBG, next time go to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior or the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. :) There is a great petroglyph park in the NW Valley at about 35th Ave and Deer Valley Rd. too.

I sold my whole little herd a couple of years ago now. My first horse was by the Bask son Toi Soldier :-) I also had a Khemosabi grand daughter. The year they had Khemo's 30th B-Day celebration, we had our colt and filly in the same barn out in Cave Creek.

I loaded this pic onto my photobucket, since it's a bit off topic, just picture him with a flower pot on his head ;-)

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Sorry about the OT rambling...

Great pic of a gorgeous horse!

Arabians are my favorite. I have never managed to own my own horse though I have ridden off and on most of my life. I rode a chestnut stallion, T-Bird Shadek, (or something similar) for years. He was an old ranch horse, not a show horse. I remember seeing famous names in his pedigree but not which ones.

The barn I'm currently riding at has a lot of half Arabs and a breeding stallion but none for me to ride. :(

Each time we go back down, we keep visiting new stuff and fact finding. We went back down to Redrock Village, it's one exit past Picacho Peak. We also checked out Mission Royale, a 45 and over community right off I-10 at Casa Grande. With as cheap as you can rent the condo in Fountain Hills, we may not buy a place anytime soon.

They had an awesome sundial at DBG that inspired me to maybe build one to replace my lawn in the front. I'm playing with some ideas now.

Anyway, here's one last shot of that flower pot stallion of mine. We owned his mother and also bred a full and 3/4 sister to him.

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He is one gorgeous horse.....