 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Tijuana Chool Park in Tucson, Arizona is 49 acres of exquisite gardens and undisturbed desert where art, culture and nature connect. I caught up with April Brey, the Park's Marketing and Communications Director to find out more. April, what does Tijuana Chool mean? It means desert corner in the language of the Tijuana Odom, who are the Native Americans of this area. And what is the mission of this park? Basically, we're trying to show people how the plants and the cultures connect and how they depend on each other, so that people will understand the importance of both and want to take care of them. When people come here, what will they find? We have several different things, both local culture, current culture and past cultures, as well as the plants. We have some exhibits. As they come into the park, they see the tea room, the greenhouse, places to shop. As they move through the park, they'll see the performance garden, the children's garden, the ethnobotanical garden, and things that show what past cultures are doing. Past cultures are done here, and then they come up to the demonstration garden, which shows them really how to garden in their own areas, as well as we have 49 acres of just natural desert. If I wanted to know more about a specific plant, who would I talk to? You would talk to Russ Burrow, our ground curator. April, thank you for the tour. Sure. I'll see you later. Bye-bye. Russ, this is a pretty nice-looking prickly pear here. But these thorns, they look pretty vicious. Oh, they're not bad. They come out. They do. What's worse? Let me show you something more evil. Okay. Over here, we've got a jumping cholla. And they have spines that don't come out. In fact, they leave part of their spine in you so they can get you more than once. See how nicely this comes off? Now, here's the other little trick with these guys. See that? The spine's still left on the plant. The spine is still there so it can get you again. But the sheath of the spine embeds in your skin and breaks off and slowly rots out over a period of six to eight months. These are great plants for protection, but they're not always the prettiest of the cacti, are they? No, they're not the most beautiful chollias. They don't want to come out. They really intend to stay there, don't they? Yeah. Well, as I looked around here, I also noticed you had some interesting trees. Yes. You want to take a look at the kidneywood tree? That'd be an interesting one to see. Okay, let me show you some cool things about that. As soon as I get this Troy out of my hand. So this is kidneywood? Yes. It's Eisenhardy at OrthoKarpa. It's a native tree to this area. It grows in canyon habitats mostly. This has an interesting shredding bark and a very fine textured foliage that casts a light shade, but still makes some shade. This is a fabulous landscape tree. This is about maximum size, about 20 feet tall, 10 to 15 feet wide. Tolerates temperatures down into the teens. The biggest piece of trash that you get is this leaf rachis. The fruit to the same size as the leaflets, which are tiny, great patio pool tree, grows fast until it's ready to bloom, and then kind of just stays there and gets thicker. You said this is also medicinal? That's right. The wood at the time of the conquistadors was collected and hauled back to Europe and sold as lignum nephriticum as a treatment for kidney ailments, and that's where the name comes from. This also has another interesting characteristic. That's right. We've got a really strange heartwood in here. It has some odd characteristics. If you take a small amount of the heartwood and put it into spring water or tap water, let it sit for a while. It will glow blue in sunlight. Blue in sunlight? Yeah. Fluorescing in sunlight? That's unusual. Fluorescing in daylight. There are many other interesting plant species here at Tahonechul Park, and much more to see and do. Once you visit, you'll want to come back again and again. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.