Tucson, AZ: Tohono Chul: Flora and Fauna

Lizard at Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Fauna


I heart desert lizards. They scamper up and down trees and across grounds; they do push ups; they pop out their necks like bubble gum; they move their heads about charmingly. They eat insects. They are relatively polite, not making a mess of one's garden, house, or trash. They are quiet. They are not likely to climb onto you.

There are many lizards at Tohono Chul, just as there are in Tucson generally. On my Easter afternoon visit, I saw a lizard with black and white rings arund its neck and a curly tail - like a Samoyed's curl - with black and white rings at its tip.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Flora


The usual assortment of cacti reside at the botanical gardens, of course.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

So maybe one's eye naturally seeks out that which is a little different, such as how the light passes through a bloom or how it rests on giant seed pods that a tree sloughed to the earth.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

 

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Or how light transforms paddle spines into tiaras.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Related posts here: 

Tohono Chul: Steel Beats
Tohono Chul: Cactus Shadow Study


A slide show below:

Tucson, AZ: Tohono Chul: Cactus Shadow Study

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Easter afternoon was the first visit to Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens for both me and a new Tucson friend, "Stu."

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Stu, a professional photographer, brought one of his cameras, as did I.

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

By the time we arrived at the corral surrounded by Mexican Fence cactus, my camera eye felt weary.  But then Stu took a close-up of red fingertip buds that popped from one of the tall, slender cacti, and it was a wow! The textured red buds, and the sharp shadows they cast against that green, lush flesh of the cactus, ooh, I had to have them for my very own.

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

I took several.

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

I was a bit besotted. 

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

The sun was wicked bright on the cactus corral and I asked Stu about how he dealt with that because the common wisdom, of course, is that this kind of light doesn't make for good photos. Or better said: This kind of light makes it more difficult to get good photos.

Stu said a past photography instructor told her students: "Don't be a slave to light. Control it." 

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

A samurai photographer. I liked it.

Mexican Fence cactus, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Related posts: 

Tohono Chul: Steel Beats



A slide show below of Tohono Chul photos:

Tucson, AZ: Tohono Chul: Steel Beats

University of Arizona Steel Band, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

It has become my habit to spend Sunday afternoons at the Church of Jazz, ministered by the Tucson Jazz Society, where congregants gather at Brother John's.

But yesterday was Easter and I sought something more .... Spiritual? Sedate? Solemn?


Well, hey, the University of Arizona Steel Band was the feature at Tohono Chul Botanical Garden's Sundays in the Garden on Easter afternoon.

Holy beats.

University of Arizona Steel Band, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

The laying on of hands.

University of Arizona Steel Band, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

We congregants sat beneath a living, yellow canopy of falling blossoms. There was a breeze.

University of Arizona Steel Band, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

This piece, in the band's second set, lifted us into the fresh green leaves above:

Amen.



A slide show of my visits to Tohono Chul below:

El Paso: Desert Botanical Garden

El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, El Paso, Texas. May 2017.

May 2017


A morning in May. A good day to visit the El Paso Desert Botanical Gardens, part of the Keystone Heritage Park.

Really, what is there to say about a botanical garden that isn't better said in photographs?

Or to pass a few moments together in this video below:

And after walking about for a bit, another sit and gentle breathe here:

El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, El Paso, Texas. May 2017. Artist: Aaron Royal Mosley.

El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, El Paso, Texas. May 2017.

El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, El Paso, Texas. May 2017.

El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, El Paso, Texas. May 2017.

El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, El Paso, Texas. May 2017.

A slide show below: