Sonoran Quarterly

September 2011, Volume 65, No. 3

Online extras

Interesting Insect Information

Courtesy of Arizona State University

Grasshoppers

Why does the pallid-winged grasshopper seen in Phoenix have bright yellow wings?
Pallid-winged grasshoppers are strong flyers that are attracted to city lights. They are grey and well camouflaged while sitting, but expose....read more

June 2011, Volume 65, No. 2

Ciénegas Rare Oases in the Desert

by: Shannon Fehlberg, Ph.D., Dorrance Family Foundation Conservation Biologist
Andrew Salywon, Ph.D., Assistant Herbarium Curator, Research Botanist
Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D., Program Director, Conservation of Threatened Species and Habitats

As we head into the heart of another Phoenix summer, the thought of cool, wet, green spaces may seem like just another wishful daydream. It isn’t an unattainable dream, however. Although it may be hard to believe, the state of Arizona is home to an amazing variety of wetlands. Marshes, ciénegas, bosques, tinajas, playas...read more

 March 2011, Volume 65, No. 1

Online Extras

Saguaro You Today?

By: Tom Gatz, Garden Docent and Horticulture Aide

That is a bumper sticker greeting you will find in All About Saguaros, the title of an Arizona Highways book by Leo W. Banks, published in 2008 and available in the Desert Botanical Garden gift shop. Here is just a sampling of the information in...read more

HOW OLD IS THAT SAGUARO? 

By: Tom Gatz, Garden Docent and Horticulture Aide

SHORT ANSWER: Unless it was grown from seed, and someone kept tabs on it, no one knows for sure.

The much longer answer to one of the most commonly asked question by visitors to the Desert Botanical Garden is that on average and under the natural conditions existing just west of Tucson with 10 inches of rainfall annually, a saguaro...read more

Decebmer 2010, Volume 64, No. 4

National Recognition of Cactus and Agave Collections

by: Raul Puente, Curator of Living Collections; Chad Davis, Agavaceae Collections Manager; and Scott McMahon, Cactaceae Collections Manager

In May of this year, the Garden once again lived up to its mission “…to advance excellence in education, research, exhibition, and conservation of desert plants…” when its living collections in the cactus and agave families were designated as the country’s National Collections of those two plant families. This prestigious recognition was granted by the North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC), part of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA). Although the Garden’s holdings of these two families...read more