Various cacti

The Tucson Botanical Gardens is over five acres of garden and residence that was planted in the early 1920s.  It’s much more than cacti as it features trees, shrubs, flowers, kitchen gardens, herbs, tropical plants and citrus.   

We spent a couple hours in the late afternoon wandering around.  And I pointed my camera mostly at the cacti and the succulents in the slanting light. I’m fascinated with these plants and want to learn the names of all of them.   Here are some that appealed to me.

This one on the left may be called a fish hook cactus.  

Then, four different agave varieties.  This is the giant silvery one with leaves that remind me of turtle shells.

The spiky ends on these come in a couple of different colours, and beneath them isone I'd never seen before called the Queen Victoria Agave.

Then there are the prickly pears and some that look like aloe and others that I don't know the names of.  What an incredible variety of colours, shapes, sizes and adaptations to the desert environment.

This last photograph is the tip of the little Christmas Cactus that we buy in supermarkets in the winter.  The sun was shining through the new growth making it look like a glowing candle.

UPDATE:  We're in Tubac today and plan to stay for another day before heading up towards Patagonia.  Tubac is an arty little town with lots to see and do, including a visit to the historic ruins of the Tumacacori mission.