Hungry tortoise, plump saguaro and a cattle tank at the Botanic Garden

Before it got too hot yesterday, I took a quick morning walk-through of the Tucson Botanical Garden to see the impact of the this year’s record-setting monsoon. (Over 12 inches of rain, so far, and still counting through the end of September.)

The quick summary: trees and shrubs that have stood almost bare for years are now covered with so many leaves that it is almost impossible to see from one path to the next. The cacti are filled almost to bursting with water. And this was the first time I saw the Desert Tortoise outside his/her cave. Then there is the surprising CactiPorn!

Photos speak Louder than Words

Here are some of the photos of the greener-than-green Botanical Garden, including a mural of the Founders.

Most people would expect a Botanical Garden to be all green and lush. Even with the care and regular irrigation the Tucson Botanical Garden receives, the leaves on trees and shrubs have always been spare. Not this year, however.

As you can see, the Saguaro are plump and the Ocotillo actually have leaves instead of looking like a cluster of dead sticks. In the second photo the Golden Barrel cacti are plumper. And then there is the unexpected cacti in the third photo. What’s this? CactiPorn?

I’ve walked by this mural dozens of times and only yesterday discovered than it honors Mr. and Mrs. Porter, the people who founded the Botanical Garden in their back yard/plant nursery. It was painted on the inside of a cattle watering tank that the Porters installed in this location on their property for their children to use as a swimming pool.

Oh, there were millions more butterflies fluttering around outside the Butterfly Pavilion than inside. The monsoon has been good for them, too.

And this was the original garden where Rutger Porter owned and operated the Desert Garden Nursery which later became the Tucson Botanical Garden. You can see more of the Garden here and here. It’s especially festive during the winter holiday season.

With September comes lots of new activities in Southern Arizona. Vintage Fairs, rodeos, outdoor and indoor music, fruit harvesting, wine making. It is as if the city–like the Desert Tortoise–is crawling out of its hot summer cave and into the abundance of Fall/Winter/Spring in Tucson.