The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, that is. My daughter Katie recently invited me to be her guest there. We saw loads of gorgeous cactus (click on smaller photos to enlarge and see captions):

I was surprised to see blooms on this barrel cactus; I thought they only bloom in spring.

Doesn’t this look fake?

I think these look fake, too.

Prickly pear.

I guess these are really succulents, not cactus.

And lots of wildflowers (at least, I think they are wildflowers; if I’m wrong, please tell me):

I think these are orchids:

This is called desert rose:

Closeup of desert rose:

Parts of the garden are sort of wild and natural; other parts have paths and lighting.

Beautiful inlaid tile mosaic in a garden wall:

We were there on a Friday morning. It was so peaceful.

One section of the garden features vegetables and herbs. I thought the squash blossoms

and the Korean chives were especially lovely: