Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
| Boyce Thompson Arboretum | |
| Arizona State Park | |
 Spring wildflowers at Boyce Thompson Arboretum
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| Named for: William Boyce Thompson | |
| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| State |  Arizona |
| County | Pinal |
| Location | Superior |
| - elevation | 2,431 ft (741 m) |
| - coordinates | 33°16′45″N 111°9′30″W / 33.27917°N 111.15833°WCoordinates: 33°16′45″N 111°9′30″W / 33.27917°N 111.15833°W |
| Area | 392 acres (159 ha) |
| Founded | 1924 |
| Management | Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum Inc., the University of Arizona, and Arizona State Parks |
 Location in Arizona
Location in Arizona
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Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the largest and oldest botanical garden in the state of Arizona. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi. Founded in 1924 as a desert plant research facility and “living museum”, the Arboretum is located in the Sonoran Desert on 392 acres along Queen Creek and beneath the towering volcanic remnant, Picketpost Mountain. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is on U.S. Highway 60, an hour's drive east from Phoenix and 3 miles west of Superior, Arizona.
The Arboretum has a visitor center, gift shop, research offices, greenhouses, a demonstration garden, picnic area, and a looping 1.5-mile primary trail that leads visitors through various exhibits and natural areas. The exhibits include a cactus garden, palm and eucalyptus groves, an Australian exhibit, South American exhibit, aloe garden and an herb garden. There are also side trails such as the Chihuahuan Trail, Curandero Trail, and High Trail.
Over 2600 species of arid land plants from around the world grow at the Arboretum. Agaves, aloes, boojum trees, cork oaks, jujube trees, legume trees, and, in the Eucalyptus grove, one of the largest red gum Eucalyptus trees ("Mr. Big") in the United States. Cacti and succulents grow extensively throughout the Arboretum.
Because the BTA is a riparian zone, the park attracts Sonoran Desert wildlife and migrating birds. Visitors have seen bobcats, javelinas, coatimundis, rattlesnakes, gila monsters, hawks, hummingbirds, and vultures. 270 bird species have been spotted in the park and the Audubon Society has designated the Arboretum as an Important Bird Area.
Currently the Arboretum has 5,000 members and attracts over 75,000 people annually.
The arboretum was founded by William Boyce Thompson (1869 - 1930), a mine engineer who created his fortune in the mining industry. He was the founder and first president of Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company at Globe-Miami, Arizona and Magma Copper Company in Superior, Arizona. In the early 1920s, Thompson, enamored with the landscape around Superior, built a winter home overlooking Queen Creek. Also in the 1920s, as his fortunes grew, he created and financed the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Yonkers, New York (now at Cornell University in Ithaca), and the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the property of the Picket Post House, west of Superior, Arizona.
Boyce Thompson wrote: “I have in mind far more than mere botanical propagation. I hope to benefit the State and the Southwest by the addition of new products. A plant collection will be assembled which will be of interest not only to the nature lover and the plant student, but which will stress the practical side, as well to see if we cannot make these mesas, hillsides, and canyons far more productive and of more benefit to mankind. We will bring together and study the plants of the desert countries, find out their uses, and make them available to the people. It is a big job, but we will build here the most beautiful, and at the same time the most useful garden of its kind in the world.”
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