Welcome to the
Wallace Desert Garden (not-so-grand) Opening October 2020
37615 E. Arboretum Way, Superior, AZ 85173-2509 | 520.689.2723 | btarboretum.org Managed by Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN 88-0061520
“We will build here the most beautiful, and at the same time the most useful garden of its kind in the world.” – Col. William Boyce Thompson One third of the world’s vascular plant species face extinction due to a variety of human activities, such as agricultural and forestry practices, urbanization, pollution, global climate change, and more. With missions devoted to public education, study, research and conservation, botanical gardens and arboreta play an important role in saving the world’s plant species and making them known to the public.
Welcome,
and thank you for attending the Wallace Garden Party. While we had to significantly adapt our plans this year, we hope this is the first of many annual celebrations for our growing desert paradise. We want to thank the former Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation. “Former” because, upon completion of the transfer of the Wallace collection to Boyce Thompson Arboretum and finalizing the many moving pieces required for such a massive undertaking, the Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation was dissolved. We could not be more grateful to the many dedicated individuals who served the Foundation as it oversaw the move. We also want to thank Boyce Thompson Arboretum’s Board of Directors. They guided the move and accession of H.B. Wallace’s extraordinary collection and ensured the sustained health and growth of the Arboretum. They kept a steady hand on the tiller as BTA navigated through rough seas in the transition from a tripartite arrangement with the University of Arizona and Arizona State Parks to independent nonprofit organization. We are grateful for their leadership and support. Please enjoy yourself, discover and delight in the thousands of new plantings and trails, and know that this is your garden, too. We all share in its success and contribute to its healthy growth now and into the future.
Lynne Nemeth, Executive Director, Boyce Thompson Arboretum
A Message from Joe Giacobazzi, President of the Wallace Desert Garden Foundation It’s been more than five years since the Wallace Foundation Board and the Wallace Family made the decision to move the garden from its original home in North Scottsdale to Boyce Thompson Arboretum. A move that became necessary in order to save the Wallace Garden. At its original location the garden was isolated within a guard-gated community. We were losing $300,000 a year, couldn’t open the garden for public viewing, and the available funds to cover ongoing maintenance and care of the plants were quickly running out. Then fate intervened and we discovered this wonderful place… It has the same type of soil, the same altitude and similar climate conditions as the original location. So, when BTA offered up the necessary acreage that would allow the nearly 6,000-plant collection to remain intact–and in such a stunning setting–our decision was an easy one to make. Things got difficult when the heavy lifting began. As you know, this project didn’t happen overnight. It took the creativity, perseverance, dedication and hard work of literally hundreds of very talented and committed people to pull it off. Without their efforts we wouldn’t be here today. There is one person who has been with the project since before Lee Brownson, WDG Executive Director there even was a project. He was our conductor, orchestrating the entire symphony from beginning to end: Wallace Garden Executive Director, Lee Brownson. Kudos to Lee! Project managers Al Dunstan and Roxcelli Ortega led the effort on the Wallace Garden side, and Cathy Babcock, Jeff Payne and Lacey Pacheco on the Boyce Thompson side. They all spent many more hours than we’ll ever realize, managing everything that happened on a daily basis, on each end of the move. Congratulations and well done!
Our primary contractor was Native Resources International, led by Rob Kater and Rodolfo Natividad for BTA, and Maurice Bosc and Guillermo Apellido for WDG. For Native Resources this was much more than just another project. They put their hearts and souls and significant creative intellect into preserving the plants and creating the special place we are celebrating today. Our lead design consultants and landscape architects were the very talented and dedicated Wayne Coleman and Judy Mielke from Logan Simpson Design. They not only developed the plans for the new garden, they also designed the restoration plan for the Wallace property in north Scottsdale, and were a great asset in getting all the approvals and permits needed to accomplish the job. Both locations look fantastic! Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who worked on the move and those who continue the ongoing care and maintenance of the garden. They really put their hearts and souls into this effort. To them this has become more than just a job, this is a calling. It has become their legacy just as it was for H.B. Wallace. And it shows! What we’re celebrating today is a moment in time for the Wallace Desert Garden. The story started some 30 years ago when H.B. Wallace began planting seeds for his garden in North Scottsdale. Now that we’ve successfully moved the garden to this stunning setting where it is secure and open to the public for the enjoyment of generations to come, it’s time for the next chapter of the story to begin. The fact is, botanical gardens and arboretums need money to thrive and stay in existence. And one of their major sources of funding is
donations given from people just like you. We’ve done the heavy lifting in getting the Wallace Garden moved to BTA, but now we need to ensure adequate funding is in place to maintain the garden in perpetuity, and we need your help. We’re asking you to open up your pocket books, volunteer your time, tell others about this great place to visit, or do whatever you can to help ensure the health of the garden and make this chapter of the Wallace Garden story the best chapter yet. We have several opportunities to give, including the purchase of numbered castings of the Wallace bronze sculptures where 15% of the proceeds will be donated to BTA by their creator, artist Sandi Ciaramitaro. You can also leave a check at the Visitors Center, or take an envelope home and make a donation when the time is right for you. Please do what you can, we need your support! Thank you very much for attending our Garden Party. Now, I would like to propose a toast to all of you for your support today and in the future. With your help, this collection will prosper and thrive in its new home and be here for the enjoyment of our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for decades to come. Cheers! Joe Giacobazzi, Director, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and formerly, President, Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation
Garden on the Move In December 2015, with the pomp and fanfare of a tarpaulin-covered pickup crossing the threshold of the front gate, the very first Wallace collection plants arrived at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.
It all started in 2014, when the Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation approached Boyce Thompson Arboretum with an audacious request— to save Henry B. Wallace’s collection of desert plants. HB, as he was known, had passed away in 2005 and his foundation was no longer able to maintain the valuable collection. Saving it meant agreeing to the transport, acclimation, and transplanting of some 6,000 plants, and included designing an entirely new garden at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. BTA said yes. HB’s collection had originated in 1987. He acquired thousands of plants from commercial nurseries, private collections, horticulturists, scientists, and from the Arboretum’s Desert Legume Program. Over a nearly twenty-year period, he had filled his garden with an international palette of desert plants representing countries from Madagascar to Mexico and continents from Australia to the Americas. The collection was originally located on 12 acres of land in the Scottsdalebased Sincuidados home development. To move the collection, teams of landscapers hand-dug trenches around the bases of the plants and built boxes around the root systems. For a 25-foot cactus, the wooden panels measured 72”
and were assembled in the holes around the base. Even the large yuccas and saguaros had to be prepared using this method before they could be moved. A front-end loader was used to load the boxed plants and it took 100 semi truck loads to get them to BTA. The plants Miguel Hernandez, Foreman were transferred to six shade houses and the staff watered them regularly and checked them for shock. This project is groundbreaking not just because of its scale, but because of the quality and diversity of the Wallace Desert Gardens collection. Of the 1,439 taxa (species, cultivars, hybrids, varieties) transported to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, 861 are new to BTA, and 159 species are considered to be of conservation concern, ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered in the wild. Adding them to the Arboretum creates an unprecedented collection of desert plants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Madagascar, India, China, Japan, Israel, South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Arabian Peninsula. Today the garden is thriving in its new location and the combined collections rank BTA as the first in the world in the number of desert legume taxa.
Special Thanks and Acknowledgments The Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation Board of Directors: Gene Swedish Joseph Giacobazzi, President Lynne Kandall Joseph Toomey, Past President Matthew Brian Johnson E. Danson (Dan) Perin, Treasurer Miriam Ailloni-Charas Lee S. Brownson, Executive Director
Boyce Thompson Arboretum Board of Directors Jay Ream, President Shelly Esque, Vice President Kent Ennis, Treasurer Rick Gibson, Secretary Carolyn Baecker Mila Besich Victoria Bever
LeRoy Brady Joseph Giacobazzi Dr. Bobbi Lancaster Jared Langkilde Barbara Miller, Esq. Carol Parrott Anne Schrock, Esq.
Native Resources International Rob Kater Maurice Bosc
Rodolfo Natividad Guillermo Ortiz
Logan Simpson Design Wayne Colebank
Judy Mielke
Boyce Thompson Arboretum Jeff Payne, Director of Horticulture Miguel Hernandez, WDG Foreman
Matt Johnson, Science Advisor Derek Lopez, Gardener
Special thanks also go to Cathy Babcock, Lacey Pacheco, Superstition Mountain Master Gardeners, and all Boyce Thompson Arboretum volunteers, members and donors. Your contributions have ensured the success of this unprecedented effort and will help secure Boyce Thompson Arboretum’s status as a leading botanical garden. We’re enormously proud of our role in the conservation and stewardship of desert plants, wildlife, and ecosystems, and the positive impact spending time exploring our gardens and trails has had on the lives of so many. We couldn’t do it without you, and we are determined that, come what may, we will continue to enrich people’s lives long into the future. Photos courtesy of Barefoot Productions, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Rick Nadolny, Joseph Pacheco and the Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation. Illustrations courtesy of J. Keegan Rider, www.keeganrider.com.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Keith & Brenda Taylor Lynne Nemeth & Lanny Morrison Historic Magma Hotel Straight to the Plate Catering Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. Bouquets on Broad Street, Globe, AZ Vendor partners who donated time and materials to help Native Resources International develop the Wallace Desert Garden: Empire Machinery Site One Landscape Supply Kalamazoo Materials Stabilizer Solutions Sunbelt Reclamation
Wallace Desert Garden Volunteer Guides Volunteer tour guides contributed nearly 600 hours in training before they even began presenting guided tours. They always hold a special place in our heart, but this year they stepped up when we needed them most and for that we are forever grateful. Ann and Dwayne Booth Barbara Brumley Jeanne Ann Brush Kayla Clark Reid Conrad Anne Ellis Marcella Fernandez Karen Gremminger Claudia Helfgott Mary Isham Brent Johnson Ed and Jan Kramer Mary Krueger Bobbi Lancaster Sylvia Lee Shu Yin Liang
George Lloyd Jeanne McGann Pearl Nancarrow Carol Parrott Alyce Riley Lowell Sederstrom Jim Shepherd Linda Smith Barbara Soumar Connie Thomas Kevin Tucker Virginia Underwood Ellen Williamson Sandy Williamson Shelly Winzeler Caroline Womack
Wallace Desert Garden Donors We would like to thank everyone who gave to the Wallace Desert Garden over the last five years. Listed below are individuals and organizations who made donations of $500 or more to support the planning, move and installation of the garden. Please contact us if your name(s) are incorrectly listed or inadvertently omitted.
$500,000 and Up Wallace Desert Gardens Foundation
$10,000 - $499,999 William and Susan Ahearn Peter and Judy Allard Covert and Lea Bailey Joseph and Gail Giacobazzi Jeffrey Heimer and Linda Brock James Nafziger Jay and DeLana Ream Janet Spadora Keith and Brenda Taylor
$1,000 - $9,999 Arizona Federation of Garden Clubs Austin Cactus Succulent Society Janet and James Badden Carolyn and Grant Baecker Ann Beisser Abe & Ingrid Dye Shelly and Timm Esque Gold Canyon Garden Club Central Arizona Cactus & Succulent Society Barbara Clayton and Karen Haglund Custom Gabion Design Kent and Muriel Ennis Jim and Elizabeth Fordemwalt Rick and Lexia Gibson Historic Hotel Magma
Robert and Kathryn Kater Barbara King and Dr. Harold Johnson John and Beth Kirkpatrick John Krol Dr. Bobbi and Lucy Lancaster Lynne Nemeth and Lanny Morrison Jan and Mary Ellen Nyland Larry and Margaret Olson Pinal County Mark and Patty Premeau Resolution Copper Company Jim and Kally Reynolds Lois Schneberger Mark Siegwarth William C. Thornton
$500 - $999 Marian Alaback Kathe Anderson and Lawrence Phelps Susan Andrews and Linda Campbell Jared and Loralee Langkilde Orme Lewis Jeffrey and Mavis Luther Leroy and Sandra Luther John and Jodi Morgan Bernard and Faye Pipkin Dan and Janis Ramirez Jan and Ken Sadowsky Washington Garden Club
Saving Desert Plants Deserts make up 25% of Earth’s surface and are biodiversity hotspots. They may seem harsh and inhospitable, but in reality, deserts contain a fragile ecosystem of plants and animals adapted to thrive under difficult conditions. Arid land environments are especially vulnerable to climate change, human activity and human exploitation. Gardens are important repositories for harboring, cultivating, and studying the plant life of these threatened ecosystems. It is important for humanity that we conserve endangered species; the loss of one species often triggers the loss of others. A well-balanced ecosystem purifies the environment, giving us clean air to breathe, a healthy water system to support diverse life, and arable land for agricultural production. It also provides us plants with medicinal properties, which serve as the foundation of our medicines. When ecosystems fail, our own health is at risk. When saving endangered species, we are ultimately saving ourselves. Please help us preserve and protect this important and unprecedented collection so that students and visitors of all ages can understand and appreciate it’s significance, its promise and its beauty – now and in the future. A gift to the Wallace Garden Annual Fund will provide immediate support where it’s needed most: securing and conserving the plants, enhancing the trails, and presenting engaging educational programs. Your gift will make a real difference! Please give today.
btarboretum.org/wallace-desert-garden