Desert Botanical Garden

We spent one morning at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and saw an amazing array of cacti, shrubs and trees. If we go back next year, and I sure hope we do, I'll need to find a field guide to help identify all of these wonderful plants. I saw several cactus wrens in this area- a life bird, but no pictures of them.
Such unusual blooms.
Again, wonderful, strange flowers.

This cactus actually looked dead, brown and dried, but was in bloom!

One of my favorites- wish I knew this cactus' name.

I think this is a Phainopepla without its crest showing. If I'm wrong, please correct me. I did see several Phainopepla later in the week with a good positive id so I do get to add it to my life list! Hoorah!

This was the only day that the heat (95) got to me. My fault as I didn't wear a hat. We stopped at the little outdoor restaurant in the garden for lunch and drinks. Art and I had a fabulous southwestern chicken wrap with fresh guacamole, sweet corn and black beans with lime juice. Yummm. We washed it down with prickly pear iced tea. The tea was refreshing but tasted a little like bananas.