Sunday, May 17, 2015

2015 Tucson: Tohono Chul (5/17/2015)

Sunday, May 17, 2015 (continued)
After exploring the DeGrazia Gallery, Ginger drove us back to her place, and we took the rental car and headed back north of Tucson.
First we stopped at St Philip in the Hills Episcopal Church (1936), which was designed by Josias Joesler in Spanish Colonial Mission style, on land donated by John Murphey. Originally the main entrance to the Catalina Foothills Estates was located nearby. This exclusive residential neighborhood was developed by Murphey and Joesler, starting in the 1930s.
St Philip in the Hills Episcopal Church
at 4440 N Campbell Avenue
St Philip in the Hills plaza fountain
We then headed west to Tohono Chul Park. We had read that the magazine Travel+Leisure called it one of great botanical gardens in world. We should have researched when that was said (2010)! It was looking a little neglected today.
Our greeter: Sceloporus magister/Desert Spiny Lizard
Ice Plant
Adenium obesum/Desert Rose (KAH)
Pachycereus marginatus/Mexican Fence Post Cactus
Apartment house saguaro (KAH)
Regal Horned Lizard (1995) by Dave Stone
Grape arbor (KAH)
Grapes
Moorish Garden
Karen with a large Opuntia sp 
Acacia greggii/Catclaw Acacia?
with snapping pods
I was standing under this tree, and hearing a snap/crackle, then what sounded like rain. The pods were bursting and raining seeds.
Empty Nest (2004-2005) by Ira Wiesenfeld
Rain Catcher (one of many) by Jeffrey Dacosta
Native Bee Habitat (2013) by Tucson students
Fountain with mosaic channel in the Children's Garden
Arch to the Children's Garden
Vulture by Kioko Mwitiki of Kenya
Nolina sp
Mexican Fence Post Cactus Water Sculpture
by Dave Weinert
Fouquieria splendens/Ocotillo with leaves
More azurite (blue) and malachite (green)
Adromischus cristatus
Fenestraria rhopalophylla/Baby Toes
Boot bird house
Chile pepper wreath

Next: Tucson Sights.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful! I am looking to identify a huge iguana looking lizard that lives in my yard in tucson. He has yellow around his eyes, beautiful green scales on his face, and a blue belly.

Jax Stumpes said...

I am assuming that a huge lizard is over a foot-long. Less than a foot might make it a Granite Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus orcutti) and coloration is so individual. Can anybody help with this identification?