The amazing eucalyptus trees of modern, and old-time Phoenix

Although to our modern eyes, the desert is beautiful, if you time-traveled back to the days when Phoenix was first beginning, the desert was a terrible and frightening place, a place of death, not of life.

So when people started living there, and didn't want to just see "miles and miles of kitty litter", they planted trees. And in my opinion, Phoenix got it right, and has done the perfect balance of having trees, but keeping in mind that it's a desert, with limited water, and precious little rainfall.

If you've ever wandered around old parts of Pasadena, you can see that what they did there was to try to re-create the look of the midwest in a dry, hot climate. Yes, I understand that it made the city more attractive than if it were left in a natural state, which is just scrubs, but it's wildly expensive to keep up, both in terms of labor, and water use.

That being said, and I'm speaking strictly for myself here, I'm not comfortable living in a desert, surrounded just by cholla cactus, creosote, that sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, I love to visit places like that, but for myself I really prefer some trees.

Of course the Phoenix pioneers tried everything, every type of plant, every type of tree. They stuck 'em in the ground, and stood back. Over the years they found that some plants, and trees, work better than others, and of course all have drawbacks. The majestic cottonwood trees that were so common in Phoenix up until a few decades ago, were discovered to draw an enormous amount of water from the canals, and just plain got too darned big. Oh yeah, and they're very messy - if you've ever seen the cotton flow down from a cottonwood tree, you know. And a gigantic deciduous tree like that drops a LOT of leaves in the fall. By the way "deciduous" just means a tree that drops its leaves in the fall, and remains leafless until the spring.

And that brings me to the eucalyptus trees, like the one at the top of this post. No, they're not perfect, no tree is, but they're not deciduous, and they use a lot less water than most trees. They come from dry, hot areas of Australia. I had two gigantic eucalyptus trees on my tiny property when I bought the house that I'm in right now, and went to a lot of effort to get rid of them. But they're still around the neighborhood, mostly in parks, where they have room to grow, and when their weak branches fall off, they don't land on a car, or damage the roof of a house!

I walk around my neighborhood quite a bit, and I appreciate whatever shade I can get. As a walker, I'm not fussy about trees, I just enjoy not always being out in the burning sun. But the tree in this post, which I pass quite often, has always fascinated me. It's a eucalyptus tree, but not what most people recognize as such, and I'm particularly fascinated by the smooth and beautiful trunk. So yesterday I stopped and took some pictures. I know that it kinda freaks people out, so I do it with care, and try not to get anything recognizable in the background. Most people who take photos are complaining about something, but I'm admiring the beauty, and I wanted to share it with you.

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