Boyce Thompson Arboretum
— — the desert garden under the red ridge.
Not only on a wall.
“Arizona's oldest and largest botanical garden, set inside Queen Creek Canyon at the edge of the town of Superior. Colonel William Boyce Thompson laid the grounds out in the 1920s on 392 acres of Sonoran upland beneath Picketpost Mountain. Eucalyptus from his Australia plantings still hold the entrance road. Trails cross through cactus collections, a herb garden, and a streambed sycamore corridor that turns gold by late November.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum occupies 392 acres in Queen Creek Canyon along US-60, about 55 miles east of Phoenix at the foot of Picketpost Mountain. Founded in 1924 by mining magnate Colonel William Boyce Thompson, it opened to the public in 1929 and is the oldest and largest botanical garden in Arizona. The arboretum is operated as a non-profit on land previously administered as an Arizona State Park. Trails total around three miles through Sonoran Desert, a riparian corridor along Queen Creek, and themed plant collections.
The arboretum reads differently each quarter. March and April carry the desert bloom — brittlebush yellow, poppies, and the brief red of ocotillo tip-flowers — and the Eucalyptus Forest at the entrance fills with fragrance. June afternoons cross 100°F and the gardens open at 6 a.m. for early walking. Late November holds the canyon's surprise: the Arizona sycamores along Queen Creek turn gold and copper for about three weeks. Winter rain brings the High Trail back to green and clears the view of Picketpost.
The arboretum is open daily, with admission charged by the operating non-profit at the gate. The Main Loop and High Trail begin from the visitor center and the cactus garden. Picnic ramadas, the Smith Building, and the Magma Mine Trail are reached from spur paths; the suspension bridge over Queen Creek is the canyon's most photographed feature. The site closes to entries an hour before sunset; summer mornings before 8 a.m. carry the gentlest light and the most birdsong.