Boyce Thompson Arboretum

I’m standing in an herb garden that shimmers with the wings of Queen butterflies. A playful mosaic of a sun stretches from my feet to the greenhouse nearby in a swath of rainbow tiles. Fronds of date palms and the gargantuan limbs of cottonwoods angle over shady pathways, while other-wordly cacti formations seek the sun from the trails closer to rugged wilderness.

I’m in an arboretum, in a riparian zone, in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, in the nation’s fifth largest national forest, an hour from downtown Phoenix. And as I watch butterflies flit between stalks of lavender and the fiery blooms of caesalpinia pulcherrima, I’m smirking. It’s the face I get whenever I think of outsiders eschewing my desert as just hot sand and dirt.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum, the state’s oldest botanical garden, was founded as an arid plant preserve and a global collection of the trees that thrive best in the climate. You’ll find a healthy representation of natives
— agaves, aloes, barrel cacti and saguaros—along with some transplants like the eucalyptus and boojum.

Nine scenic paths cross the state park and arboretum, including the 1.5 mile Main Trail that winds past the founder’s Picket Post Mansion and beside cottonwoods drinking from Queen Creek. We started at the short Sonoran Desert Exhibit loop and continued on the Main Trail toward the greenhouses.

The nearby Children’s Horticulture Garden dazzled with orange Queen butterflies and the smells of herbs.

Father down the path, the Cactus and Succulents Garden offered some up-close investigation of barrel cacti and other forms that look like the spinier cousins of a coral reef.

Rushes line the lips of Ayer Lake, a reservoir created for irrigation. From here, you’ll get your first glimpse of Boyce Thompson’s Picket Post House perched on the hill beyond. The historic mansion is closed except for special occasions, but the trail takes you up close to its crenelations in a volcanic cliffside.

At the easternmost edge of the park, you’ll have an option for your loop back along Queen Creek. The High Trail hits the views, but we opted to stick to the Main Trail so we’d trek through the Eucalyptus Forest. After standing on the suspension bridge, of course. Keep an eye out for hummingbirds.