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My wife and I recently visited the Flagstaff
Arboretum to take the photos for this article and we thoroughly
enjoyed the visit.
The Flagstaff Arboretum is located a few miles down Woody
Mountain Road, which is off West Route 66. There is no exit off Interstate 40
at Woody Mountain Road.
We paid our very reasonable (cheap) five dollar entrance fee in
the Gift Shop and were informed that a guided tour would start at
11:00 a.m. We had timed our visit for that purpose, so we went out
and watched the numerous hummingbirds until the tour started.
Our guide was Rollie, a friendly and knowledgeable gentleman who told us of
the history behind the grounds and gardens, as well as the plants themselves.
He told us of Mrs. McAllister, her summer home
turned working ranch... turned tourist attraction / education
center / conservation facility.
But the trees, shrubs, and flowering native plants are the real
attractions here. Rollie led us through the various themed
gardens, informing us about the many interesting plants, and how
local insects and
animals may interact with them.
He also touched on the 9 foot tall fence
that surrounds the gardens to keep the local elk herds from eating
all the plants.
Rollie can give you the entire
tour, his prepared remarks, answer questions, and keep you going
with offhand comments, when you take
the tour.
He'll give you answers to questions
like:
While
we were there we met a few
tourist groups, a summer class of
grammar school age students, a couple of
university student interns, and three of the gardeners. The
gardeners keep it all looking great for the rest of us to enjoy.
The
Flagstaff
Arboretum serves many purposes, as I hinted at before. They serve as a DNA bank
for native plants.
Flagstaff
Arboretum is a working scientific laboratory, where research is conducted as
the plants are
propagated. New educators and
scientists are grown here, as well as plants.
Flagstaff
Arboretum is a rich source of seeds. Seeds to be collected and shared with the
Forest Service, National Parks, and other federal and state
government agencies.
Flagstaff
Arboretum has more than 2500 high altitude plants growing and reproducing here.
It's one of a very few places in the world where these unique
plants are nurtured and protected.
Some
plants are raised and sold at an annual plant sale held in June.
This is a revenue source needed to pay the substantial expenses a
world-class facility such as this incurs. Memberships are another
source of badly needed funds.
Flagstaff
Arboretum is worth visiting... at least once each year. The different plants
take turns showing off during the season.
A Google search using a keyword phrase such as mountain
plants will
display a variety of resources. Be sure to notice the relevant ads down the right side... those are resources
also.
You can also search Amazon for things like gardening books and products.
Try a book search such as western gardening.