Desert Botanical Garden, Part 4
So many familiar sights as I wander through the garden such as this saguaro cactus family — the "father" standing tall with his arm outstretched. The hole toward the top is probably a nest of a cactus wren. Beautiful sky overhead.
When you look down, you notice this unusual gathering of cactus. If you had to give it a name, it would have to be "old hairy man cactus". Would it surprise you to learn that someone beat you to it, sort of — it is the old man cactus.
Ah, more of the sculptures by Jun Kaneko — this time, a group scattered about — in fact, a gathering so large it was impossible to take a full group photo. So here they are in smaller subgroups.
This Kaneko sculpture reminded me of the spaceship that Mork (of "Mork and Mindy") used to come to Earth. "Nanu, nanu" (RIP Robin Williams — you were gone too soon.)
And here is the rest of the crowd.
I don't know the actual name of this stand of cactus — so I will designate it to be the "lazy cactus".
It took a moment but then I realized this is a barrel cactus — a bit deformed but definitely a barrel cactus. In my opinion, that deformity makes it a more interesting specimen, don't you agree?
Here is a different Barrel Cactus with new blossoms emerging.
Wow, a delightful patch of purple prickly pear cactus.
A patch of succulents, although I do not know the variety. I think they are quite attractive and offer a nice counterpoint to the many varieties of cactus in the garden.
Last for today, a Boojum Tree. It is an unusual species in that it does not have branching arms but protruding stalks from which the leaves grow. During times of abundant moisture, the leaves all come out at once. When it turns dry, all the leaves fall off at once. A small factoid complements of Wikipedia, "The plant's English name, Boojum, was given by Godfrey Sykes of the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona and is taken from Lewis Carroll's poem 'The Hunting of the Snark'".
