April 2016 - Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, Imperial, AZ

Today was a "free" day from the activities at the S.M.A.R.T. SE Regional Muster and the organizers had given tickets to visit this arboretum to those that were interested.  I jumped at the chance knowing it was the time of year the dessert would be in bloom.  It was a good choice.  I'll let the pictures do the talking;











































In addition to being a state park, it is also a research facility.  They do research in conjunction with a local university on the uses of many of the plants to treat different diseases.  Currently they are working with a plant in the treatment of skin cancer.  While the facility has many indigenous plants, they also have plants imported from around the world to include Africa and Australia.  The house above is from the Australia section as can be seen from the licence plate from the 1957 Dodge Ram Powerwagon pickup.