Trees add a tropical feel to museum

Ron Medvescek / Staff Transplant: Arizona Sonora Desert Museum plants a garden exhibit. The making of a tropical deciduous forest

Landscapers armed with shovels and tractors began transplanting 14 deciduous trees Thursday to create a tropical forest at the Arizona-Sonara Desert Museum.

The trees, which have been growing in a greenhouse for about 11 years, are being moved to their new home about 250 feet south of the greenhouse, said Barbara Skye, Desert Museum collections manager of botany.

A dozen Bursera, or "elephant trees", a copalquín and an Ebony tree will be used to create an area which will resemble the region around Alamos, Sonora, about 300 miles south of Tucson, she said.

Tropical deciduous forests experience climate change and consist of trees that lose their leaves and are pre-adapted to dry conditions.

A large crane carefully swings the trees 180 degrees to their final destination, nestled between the Ocotillo Cafe and an outdoor dining area.

Along with the trees, the area will include organ pipe, hecho and prickly pear cacti, said Cory Martin, Desert Museum landscape gardener.

The trees and shrubs will intertwine to create a "wild forest" with "kind of a jungly feel," Skye said.

"We're trying to get an immersion-type feeling."

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