Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is on U.S. Highway 60, an hour's drive east from Phoenix and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Superior, Arizona.

Because the arboretum 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.

[2] The arboretum holds collections of plants from the deserts of the United States, Mexico, Australia, Madagascar, India, China, Japan, Israel, South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Among these are three nationally accredited plant collections: eucalyptus trees, desert legumes, and southwest oaks.

Four of these species are listed as vulnerable or locally endanged, as the dudleya are threatened due to habitat loss and poaching.

In the early 1920s, Thompson, enamored with the landscape around Superior, built a winter home overlooking Queen Creek.

Also in the 1920s, as his fortune grew, he created and financed the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Yonkers, New York (later at Cornell University), and the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the property of the Picket Post House, west of Superior.

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.”[9] The Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum was established on April 1, 1924, with the hiring of its first employees, Dr. Franklin Crider and Frederick Gibson, from the University of Arizona.

Since that time, the Colonel's family has served continuously on the Board and is represented by his great-great-grandson Dr. Paul Hohenlohe.

The Picket Post House was sold in 1946 to help cut costs and raise revenues for the Arboretum.

A cooperative agreement was made with the University of Arizona in 1965, and Dr. E. Lendell Cockrum became the 4th Managing Director of the Arboretum.

With the signing of the Tri-Partite Agreement on March 30, 1976, the Arboretum became a state park, but remained a scientific research facility and a non-profit institution.

The Demonstration Garden was developed by Dr. Warren Jones from the University of Arizona and Steve Carter from the Arboretum.

In addition, the Picket Post House was purchased by Arizona State Parks in 2008 making the Arboretum whole again.