Boyce Thompson Arboretum Visit Pt. 2 - Greenhouse

In addition to the outdoor trails, there's a wonderful greenhouse at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  Inside are a large number of rare and exotic plant species - again, cactus, succulents and lilies.

A fair number of these plants were flowering during my trip in December.  Here's an example:  this is an aloe turkanensis flower.  This plant is native to Kenya.  The flower's pretty spectacular I think.

This is the outside of the greenhouse.  It's a stone building in the center, with greenhouses that jut out on either side.  The center section encompasses a display about Boyce Thompson and the history of the Arboretum, as well as some lecture rooms.

I love stone buildings.  And stone fences.  It's something about their permanence and solidity, I think.  Plus they look really cool.  And they're made of a natural material.

A sampling of the plants.

I noticed there are heaters in the greenhouse, but they weren't on at the time.  The ambient temperature was about 60 degrees F.  A little chilly, but comfortable.

I was the only person in the greehouse for the 20 minutes I was in there.  Too bad I didn't bring an ukulele - it was very relaxing and would have been a great place to practice a bit.

Here are a lot of small plants that are just fantastic.  This one is a Haworthia cactus from the lily family and native to South Africa.  It's about three inches tall!

Lots of spigots in the greenhouse and throughout the Arboretum.  Don't drink from them.  Do not even think about it.

Quite a few plants in the greenhouse have red labels instead of black labels.  This indicates they are rare, even in their area of origin.

It was very overcast the day I visited.  In fact, it rained!  It was sprinkling while I was in the greenhouse - I tried to document the fact that it actually rained in Arizona.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum Pages:
Part One - Main Trail
Part Two - Greenhouse (This page)
Part Three - Ayer Lake