Boyce Thompson Arboretum

The Arboretum brings together plants from the Earth's many and varied deserts and dry lands and displays them alongside examples of the native Sonoran Desert vegetation. Picketpost Mountain to the south of the Arboretum.

This tree had pretty purple flowers. It's called a Mescal Bean or Texas Mountain Laurel tree.

If you double-click this photo to enlarge it, you will see the large bee getting nectar from the flowers.

This butterfly liked the flowers too.

We took a tour that was the combination of a general tour and a flower tour. The guide was pointing out the different kinds of flowers but we had such a huge group that it was difficult to see what he was pointing at. I think most of these are forms of daisys. The tall bushy plant is a Joshua tree. There are also at least two kinds of prickly pear and one cholla.

The large stalk that looks like a large piece of asparagus is the flower stalk of an agave. This particular type of agave is huge and has a huge flower stalk. The folds will open up, braches will fan out and flower bunches will form on the ends. Once the agave blooms, it dies.

It's been five years since we've seen one of these. It's a Boojum and is a relative of the ocotilla. They are native to Baja California.

This is a pond created by diverting water from Queen Creek. It is impounded here to provide water for the arboretum. Queen Creek is on the other side of the hill.

Native fish are grown here to repopulate other areas of the state. This is a school of minnows.

I think these flowers are penstemon. The hairy cactus in the front and middle left are an Old Man Cacti. The hairs shade it during the intense sun of the day and helps it hold in heat during the cool of the night.

This is the outflow for the water diversion from Queek Creek. It runs into the pond. Some plants that normally wouldn't grow here because of the arid conditions do because of the water.

The pond from above.

The park's funny attempt to keep people on the trail.

The arboretum is named for Boyce Thompson, who started it and built this house. Thompson was a multi-millionaire that died shortly after building this house in the late 1920's. Do you see Odie, the cartoon dog?

Thompson's house from the other leg of the Canyon where Queen Creek runs.

Even further along Queen Creek where a suspension bridge crosses the creek.

The arboretum is built around a ridge of magma left from an eruption more than 20 million years ago. Wind and water have carved out the canyons on either side. There are many more gardens and things to look at in the park so we'll probably go back some time. We took a tour about the medicial uses of some of the plants and that we very interesting.

Schnepf Farms

Fifty-seven people from Sunscape went on a tour of Schnepf Farms by Queen Creek, AZ.

Yep, we went for a ride on the train. Ok, so it's small scale. Nolan and I just barely fit in a seat together.

Running alongside one of their small canals.

They have a u-pick vegetable garden. Only 6 acres.

The wheels sure squealed going around the curves.

They even had a covered bridge.

Some of the varieties of peaches were blooming. We had several nights of hard freezes a couple weeks before this and some of the early bloom varieties lost their blossoms.

Fry's Grocery Stores were having a commercial filmed while we were there. Yep, they hung oranges on oleander bushes. LOL

After the train ride we went on a hay ride around the farm. Man those bales were hard.

They even had a herd of deer. Course they magically transformed into reindeer at Christmas time.

The farmhouse where the present owner was raised is now the wedding center.

They also grew apples which were in bloom.

Peach blossoms. They do not have a fragrance. 85% of the Schnepf Farms peach crop is picked by people coming to the farm. The other 15% is used by the farm to make their peach produces that they sell in their gift shop.

Queen Creek Olive Mill

I organized a tagalong to go on a tour of Queen Creek Olive Mill and we ended up with 57 people attending. The tour consisted of an explanation of how the farm started, information on the different types of olives and what what grown on the farm. Then we went into this tent where we were told how the olives were pressed and aged to make the olive oil.

The walls were covered in panels explaining the production of olive oil.

The photo at the bottom of this panel shows how slow the oil is processed at peak capacity. It takes 50 lbs of olives to make one gallon of oil.

They had four different varieties of olives for us to try. I'm not an olive fan.

Wrigley Mansion

This mansion was built by William Wrigley Jr. as a 50th wedding anniversary present. It is built on top of a hill with 360° views.

This grass would be hard to mow.

The front of the house.

A view from the front porch.

The ceiling just as you step into the entry.

A cantilevered staircase goes around the entry.

There is a very small room in the entry called the "gum room". The walls and ceiling are covered in gum wrappers.

The main living room.

One of only two Steinway pianos built this size. This one was rebuilt as a player piano.

Mrs. Wrigley could sit anywhere in the room and start the piano playing the song of her choice by pushing the corresponding button on this remote.

Photo of Mr. Wrigley who died in this mansion in 1930.

The bathrooms are all tiled in Catalina Tile, a business owned by Wrigley on Catalina Island, which he owned.