Fronds, Ficus, Frogfruit, ...and Lily Pads??... Leafy investigations and pleasant reunions around S. Scottsdale and N. Tempe ...on the final day of Meteorological Spring.

June 1

What better way to spend the final morning of Meterological Spring ..that has a notable tinge of Monsoon Season in the air than roaming around a well known spot for some some interesting, local plant finds ..While putting my own eyes on a few interesting iNaturalist observations recorded in the same general area, just to be sure they're the real deal..

Could have stuffed this into the " Spring 2025 " thread, but, ..since there were fronds involved, ..a stand alone thread was warranted.

Regardless, nice to see how Civic Center Plaza in Scottsdale is looking since i was last up there right after the major overhaul / redesign was completed..

Just as nice to see that the interesting iNat observations made by others were 100% correct while visiting those locations after the stop at Civic Center..

Kicking things off, a kind of decent view of the McDowell Mtns as i headed to the plaza at 7:30AM.. Hard to capture shots when waiting at a stoplight, right after exiting an always busy freeway, even on a Saturday morning.. lol..

June 1

Civic Center Reunions....

Bald ..or Montezuma Cypress.. Can't decide, though the foliage has a distinct Montezuma lean to my eye, compared to the confirmed Bald Cypress seen in a park in Mesa awhile back..

Looking much better than it did last time i saw it regardless...

The infamous " Scottsdale Royal Poinciana " ..Not looking like a great year flower-wise, ..or maybe it kicks into gear later..

Healthy, regardless.

>>>>>

June 1

The monster Albizia sinaloensis i always come here to check on ...and it's up and coming brethren nearby.... Long after i've passed, my ghostly presence will have to wander back this way every so often to check on my mini - monster in training in the yard, and any others i'm able to plant locally..

Even up here on the 2nd story of the parking garage, wouldn't want to be passing by when this large limb had come down..

Some nice Cycas revolta and Firebush ( Hamelia patens ) in a nearby ground level bed between the monsters...

>>>>>>>>>>

June 1

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

The monster Albizia sinaloensis i always come here to check on

A quick correction before we move on.. All this talk about synonyms elsewhere discombuubuulated my by brain for a moment, causing me to forget that this species, alongside most of the other new world Albizia sps have been reassigned to Pseudalbizzia :

At least i'm not afraid of correcting a self made mental " gas pass " :greenthumb:

Anyway...

One big highlight here i've been a bit anxious to check on again since my last visit has been some Handroanthus specimens installed right after the retrofit.

They looked pretty good after installation but, that was before the last two horrible summers.. Based on specimens i'd seen at another park in Tempe, years ago, wasn't sure if these might look as bad as those did..

Upon returning = Quite a pleasant surprise.. Handroanthus impetiginosus ..or heptaphyllus ..or some cross between ..Don't really care, though i still lean in one direction over the other..

How they look after two of the worst summers in local history = gives me more ammo when suggesting these for recommendation in parks ..or to people.. closer to the house..

Will have to look em' over next February when they're bloomin'..

The iconic, monster Ficus ..benghalensis i believe.. near where the Downtown / Old Town Scottsdale strip begins..

Even in the desert, they try forming aerial roots.. Shave that thing my friend..

..Another pair on the north side of the plaza..

Seedlings here..

Seedlings there..

Poppin' all over the place.. Desert Ironwood vs. monster Ficus should be an interesting battle to observe ..if they don't axe the Ficus..

>>>>>>>

June 1

>>>>

When the city of Scottsdale renovated the Plaza, one big thing they added were ..a ton.. of Hedgehogs ( Echinocereus ) Not sure where they found so many but ..there are lots of em' planted. Unfortunately, as was seen in yards all over the valley, you can tell where numerous specimens in the beds were sacrificed to the sun over the last two summers. Still, plenty around. ..Another thing i'll have to return to see when they're flowering next Spring..

Purple Heart ( Tradescantia pallida ) and Agapanthus.. A couple things you wouldn't expect to see in the desert that seem to be holding up in lots of sun exposure..

Little singe on the Purple Heart, but looking far better than i'd expected it might.

June 1

Yucca ..Lots of acaulescent Yucca installed after the renovation through out the entire Palza..

....One of these Yuccerr' ain't like deh' others...

Pretty sure these big kids have been there for awhile but will have to look through pre- reno. shots.

A strange one, located between the Library and Jail ..Literal Jail, ..lol..

June 1

Do you know how long the agapanthus have been in not a very successful plant here in much sun posted a few that are in shade and probably around 20 or more years old!!’

June 1

Probably the biggest change to the main area of the Plaza was the installation of some big beds, full of cacti and other desert goodies..

Allauadia ..galore ..Looking good too..

Aloidendron.. Possibly dichotomum. Arborescent Euphorb. = E. ingens..

Not sure what happened to this Furc. but ...whatever caused it, it is branching and spitting out offsets. Interesting.. 🤔

Folks out w/ their fur kids in the background 😊

😊

June 1

2 minutes ago, 96720 said:

Do you know how long the agapanthus have been in not a very successful plant here in much sun posted a few that are in shade and probably around 20 or more years old!!’

Were installed when Scottsdale renovated the plaza ...Last visit there was right after it was completed in '23.

June 1

Pretty amazing they look that good in what looks like a lot of sun

June 1

Before heading off to stop #2 for the morning, ..some final takes from the Plaza..

Tipuana.. A few others were yanked when the reno was done but, still some around...

From what i saw, majority of the Monterrey Oak that were planted pre -reno are gone unfortunately.. Bur Oak that sat on the N.W corner of the plaza by Indian School and Drinkwater finally gave up it's fight to survive in the desert..

New Orchid tree installs..

The other well known Royal Poinciana over on Drinkwater.. again, no flowers this year ..or just not yet..

Green blobs by the Poinciana above, and below = .....Guaiacum coulteri ..98% of dem' blobs. Want to know who is torturing these / why they are to begin with ( should be " trimmed " themselves ).. Could be providing lots of great color instead of looking like outdated, plantation-esque landscaping junk.. Time to send that backwards mindset packin'.

..Last but not least, When it comes to Hibiscus ..the standard kind, Bright, Red-flowered stalwart " The President " is the cultivar you see in yards seeming to handle lots of sun here w/out any apparent trouble.. Not long ago, saw a light pink and white flowered rosa sinensis tolerating some sun, tucked between some shade trees, and the southeastern facing corner of a house..

First time that i can recall seeing something else ..looking pretty good in a planting position where it gets a fair amount of sun thru the day too. Planted by a playground located on the plaza facing side of the library..

Looks familiar but the cultivar name escapes me atm...

June 2

They definitely need a new landscape manager!!!!!

June 2

These hybiscus are in full sun probably 6-7’ tall bloom like crazy but I don’t know the variety either!! One is a double which makes beautiful flowers!!

June 2

Onto stop #2.. In search of Phyla nodiflora, ...The first of 3 iNat. observation investigations for the day..

Frogfruit, as most people refer to it, is a pretty simple ground cover that has shown it's worthy-ness as a reasonably durable lawn alternative, and provides many benefits to insects ( ..which in turn benefits everything else higher on up the ladder ) and nice flowers that are nice to look at, or get shots of your kids -four or two legged- playing in..

Common in a lot of places, harder to find / more tied to moister spots here in the desert, AZ at least. A bit more common south of the border though..

I'd gone on a mission to track some closer - to - the - house observations made in a park a few weeks ago but didn't find my target where it supposedly had been spotted a year prior.. Might check again but, ...Since i was in the area, decided to check out another observation site in one of the parks along the lower end of Indian Bend ...A prominent, developed Wash that runs through Scottsdale and N. Tempe, to the Tempe Town Lake portion of the Salt River near Downtown and Papago Park..

Dodging intermittent sprinklers ..the big boys all the parks use.. and a lot of Goose poo, found my target this time..

Collected some cuttings to grow out that eventually may end up in the shadier, more challenging ( for Bermuda, oddly enough ) portion of the front lawn.

Anyway, some shots ..of the park, and a couple other interesting finds there too.

Frog Fruit target landed, while ditching Goose " mulch "...

..Signs of not so welcome invasive critter's spread.. Not exactly sure which species, but likely Pomacea canaliculata, Channeled Apple Snail, though Island Apple Snail ( P. maculata ) is now present locally too.

Platanus ...surprise.

Possibly P. racemosa ..but keeping my options open. Leaf shape = Def. not P. occidentalis, American Sycamore..

Narrower leaves = most likely P. wrightii, Arizona Sycamore..

Rando. shots of the overall park.. Mckellips Lake to be exact.. Not a bad spot, but needs more trees ..How a' bout ditching the pines for / adding a bunch of Montezuma Cypress, with groups of Sabal uresana tucked in a few spots...

Some nice people watching here too

....Onto the " spicier " stops of the day's adventure..

June 2

...So Nathan, where are these " fronds " you spoke of in the title? One might ask...

..I'm getting there / Promise, there will be a little frond-age here.... ( Side Note : "Frond-age " isn't some new kink, lol )

Before the last stop for the day, the first of the 2 stops that involve " Lily Pads.. "

What's so special about em' that i had to lay eyes on? ..Well ( ...Lemme' tell you whuaat.. )

While Waterlilies are a common - enough sight in back yard or commercial landscape water features, they aren't something you'd expect to see in wild waterways in a sometimes brutal part of the world.

While winters don't get all that cold here, people might assume water temps. might get too cold for any of the tropicals to survive here.

While doing my usual looking for stuff on the Nat. one evening, found local observations of a species of Waterlily native not too far south of here, ( Grows in the Southeast U.S. too ) ...that apparently has been turning up in various areas outside it's assumed distribution range both in the U.S., and elsewhere, where it has become a major invasive plant concern ( ...because it can spread by runners and fill shallower ponds in no time ) in some areas outside the Americas.

Here, where it is native / regionally native, there are critters / fungi / bacteria that can help keep it's numbers / spread in check..

The species also represents one of 3 or 4 Nymphaea sps. that are native to N.W. / W. Mexico, close enough to AZ to survive here so, seeing specimens of any of those species surviving in larger waterways that aren't carefully managed ..Like a backyard pond might be, is something to take note of ..Well, at least if you're actually into researching plants.

Of the other species native to Mex. that should be grown here, one, Tropical Royalblue Water Lily ( Nymphaea elegans ), has been used in the creation of some of the purple and blue - flowered Waterlily cultivars.

Personally, i wish every pond in local parks / quiet, deeper bends along local rivers ( ..that run all year ) were full of waterlilies.. Something about them just adds special notes of topical ambience to water world landscapes, even wild ones ( ..Lookin at you Everglades )..

Site visited was a couple ponds tucked within a Mesquite lined section of Indian Bend Wash, where it connects to Tempe Town Lake.. just beyond a bike path that passes though the area..

As dry and sparse as the desert can look, standing on the banks of these two ponds staring out over nothing but waterlilies ( Alive and sprayed ) covering the surface, ..makes me muse how different things could be if we / when we saw more summer rainfall that resulted in more swampy areas spread out across the deserts..

Throw in various palms, larger leaved trees like Ficus / massive trees like Montezuma Cypress ..all of which help to hide the thirsty desert landscapes beyond the Bullrush and Cattails lining the banks in these pictures and ..would be easy to forget you''re in a desert while rowing down a river full of lush looking waterlilies here, esp. on a humid and stormy day during monsoon season.

Since these ponds are located so close to the city, only thing to be aware of here, besides the heat, is the occasional person living on the street who might be around..

That sort of " danger factor " might keep some people from exploring such a spot on their own, even during the day, but isn't an issue for someone well experienced w/ both sides of the tracks..

Anyway, shots of Nymphaea mexicana, AKA Yellow ( or Banana ) Waterlily ..growing quite well in a natural environment, in our section of the Sonoran Desert..

Appears the city of Tempe or Scottsdale might be attempting some level of control since these grow so fast that they can quickly fill even large ponds like these, which can lead to clogging issues if or when a large monsoon storm produces significant runoff passing through.

As mentioned, the rate this species can spread is why it has been banned by some countries., much like Water Lettuce / Hyacinth.

Unless the city is really serious about getting rid of em once and for all, i'll check in on these again in a few weeks when they should be flowering again after shrugging off this year's attempt to kill ...again..

Frond-age? ..on the way..

June 3

Those guaiacum look pretty Large how old are they and do they bloom?

June 3

4 minutes ago, 96720 said:

Those guaiacum look pretty Large how old are they and do they bloom?

Not sure on an exact age, but they've been planted there since i started visiting the plaza ..back in 2018.. Were good- sized back then.

Biggest specimens in the area, that i'm aware of, are these, located at a demo garden in Glendale ..Easily over 15ft in height, 10 -ish ft in width ( ..A guess, Need to get an actual measurement one of these days ) .

Shots below captured in Spring 2021.

From what i've been told, they were planted in 2007, Only the tips were zapped in the 2013 freeze. First time i observed them was roughly a week or so after that freeze when i made a trip here to attend the Spring plant sale at DBG that year.

Were literally the first living specimens i'd seen of the species.

June 3

There used to be a huge one at Bakers nursery I don’t know if you ever saw it but when it went to seed it looked like it was blooming red !!

June 3

2 minutes ago, 96720 said:

There used to be a huge one at Bakers nursery I don’t know if you ever saw it but when it went to seed it looked like it was blooming red !!

I didn't, but had heard they had a sizable specimen.. Wonder if it's still there, or was yanked after the nursery closed / property razed.

..Makes sense though. The Glendale specimens ( There's a smaller / younger specimen planted in a different area over there ) could look red when filled with opening fruits at times.

June 3

They also had a huge silk floss tree that I think they saved but don’t know for sure!!

June 3

1 hour ago, 96720 said:

They also had a huge silk floss tree that I think they saved but don’t know for sure!!

There was a good sized Silk Floss specimen up in Glendale for years also but something killed it several years ago.

Saw another Ceiba ..something... planted next to the patio of a business up at the plaza... Could be a Floss Silk but, i wasn't about to intrude onto private property to get a closer look. Regardless, ..it looked pretty rough / Looked like the top half of it had been ripped off at some point.

Also a tall < ..For the area > Ficus benjamina planted near it that looked like something had beat it up as well.. Better looking than the Ceiba though.

June 3

Final stop for the day = another Nymphie - related investigation.. ( Nymphie = Nymphaea ..Not the other, suggestive meaning, ha ha.. )

..And, ..those much alluded to fronds..

In this case, specimens observed -by others- were tagged as one of the night - blooming, Tropical waterlily cultivars. Unlike N. mexicana, these observations represent " real " tropicals ..The kinds that are -supposedly- pretty sensitive / can be completely killed off by sitting to cool / cold water temps. ( = Temps below about 68-70F for long periods ) while dormant in the winter ..if what i've read about them over the years from multiple sources is correct.

Anyway.. roaming around the area? = had to get eyes on these to see if they were the real deal. If so, this adds more ammo to my thoughts that our winters aren't as cold as some would believe.. Growing Sunflowers in a yard thru the winter is one thing.. Night blooming waterlilies surviving the winter, in a small lake that is completely open to the sky / surrounded by lots of open space / is too large to keep warm thru the colder months? = a little different ...even if this part of town typically doesn't all that chilly during the winter to begin with.

While the plants themselves would be a cultivar of / involving, Species involved in the cross would be Nymphaea rubra, Red Waterlily, which is native to hot n' steamy India and S.E. Asia.

Unlike the near native " topical " mentioned in the last post, this species / most crosses involving it don't produce ever -expanding runners / stolons, thus it only slowly expands ..usually by seed or short runners.

While these don't appear to ( which makes them more of a unique find ) some of the tropical waterlily sps. / cultivars can produce clonal plant-lets directly from the pads, ..or in some cases, right from the flower..

Exactly which cultivar these might be, i won't have a better idea until i can catch them in bloom but, N. x " Antares " ( named after the star ) and N. x " Red Flare " would be the two, most widely grown, red- flowered, night blooming cultivars..

Both are great for ponds, produce large flowers that open as early as sunset / remain open until shortly after Sunrise, and are extremely fragrant. Unlike many " hardy ' waterlilies, flowers on many tropicals, inc. these, rise several inches to roughly a foot above the water surface as well.

Bronze-y colored foliage might point to Red Flare, but.. that's just an assumption at this point..

Regardless, another interesting find in the Desert..

Bronze, oblong shaped pads w/ jagged, saw tooth leaf margin? = definitely a tropical rather than hardy Nymphaea..

Outstanding iNat observation of the species from Thailand, esp. when you expand the picture.. Imagine rowing through that to get to your palm island jungle..

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/204946545

Some N. mexicana growing near these here as well.. Appears these got sprayed, though i'd think spraying them would hurt the others too .... 🤔 Interesting..

Another, interesting find here, Eustoma exaltatum, Catchfly Prairie Gentain ..a late spring / summer Annual / short-lived Perennial whose range i did not realize extended west from the southern plains. Found in portions of S. Cal, as well as here and there in AZ.

Handles salty air / Alkaline soil pretty well too..

...And lastly, before heading out and getting out of the heat.....

June 3

.....Some Frond-age ..the palmy kind, from this Phoenix area Oasis..

Maybe not quite Agua Caliente -level, but, any palm filled park in the desert is worth admiration and exploring..

>>>>>

June 7

On 6/3/2025 at 7:11 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

.....Some Frond-age ..the palmy kind, from this Phoenix area Oasis..

Maybe not quite Agua Caliente -level, but, any palm filled park in the desert is worth admiration and exploring..

>>>>>

wow, very impressive area with a high diversity of plants.
great photos, Nathan.

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Fronds, Ficus, Frogfruit, ...and Lily Pads??... Leafy investigations and pleasant reunions around S. Scottsdale and N. Tempe ...on the final day of Meteorological Spring.

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