Boyce Thompson Arboretum

How to Get There

From Phoenix, AZ (60 mi): Take US-60 E toward Globe for about an hour, then turn right onto Arboretum Way just before entering Superior to reach the entrance.

Overview

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is Arizona’s largest and oldest botanical garden, a 392-acre desert plant “living museum” founded in 1924 along Queen Creek beneath Picketpost Mountain. It sits on U.S. Highway 60 about an hour east of Phoenix and 3 miles west of Superior, and holds more than 2,600 species of arid-land plants from around the world.

Things to Do

• Walk the 1.5-mile main loop trail past a cactus garden, palm and eucalyptus groves, and Australian, South American, aloe and herb exhibits, or take side trails such as the Chihuahuan, Curandero and High trails
• See “Mr. Big,” one of the largest red gum eucalyptus trees in the United States
• Watch for wildlife in the riparian zone, from bobcats and javelinas to hummingbirds. The arboretum is an Audubon Important Bird Area with 270 recorded species

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Boyce Thompson Arboretum", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.