Words of Bernice Porter

ON THE WILDLIFE
By Bernice Walkley Porter (May 1977)

Mrs. Porter was a lover of birds and animals, as well as plants. These are her words:

Bernice Walkley Porter 1953

“…the city had nearly enveloped the spot where wildlife of various sorts had found habitat or refuge amongst the desert growth, or underground. Scorpions, centipedes, black widow spiders, and harvester ants took off to wilder places, but tent gophers, cottontails, jacks and horny toads didn’t give up for years. A skunk, more persistent than the usual prowlers, had to be harmlessly evicted from under the floor; and a coyote came and kept his hideout in some brush as late as 1974. Many birds stayed, if only for the season; others came and went like the robins which, moving with the spring, flocked in as travelers to a motel, feasting on unsprayed berries. Orioles hung nests in the dry, drooping palm fronts; humming birds loved oleander twigs with their protecting leaves, and also built twice in the ivy above the front door so that people had to detour while eggs and nestlings were being cared for. Steady delightful friends have been the cardinal families, mocking birds, and verdins; doves, large and small, and desert wrens who even explored inside the house. Not often, a pair of brilliant western tanagers would appear, or a curious road-runner, an annoyance to kindred two-legs and amusement to the others. Flickers occupied a box-elder until their cellar filled with sap, then took over the high and dry saguaros where they stayed until their cactus condominiums were moved—an indefatigable clean-up crew for all the trees around. The greatest pleasure of all to see and hear were the coveys of quail which usually appeared twice a season. As natural cover dwindled, they would come over the roof at nightfall to settle safely in the shrubbery, for cats were wary of watchful Scotties. ”

Additional thoughts by Bernice Porter:

“At first, people coming west to live were interested most of all in native planting, used inside patios as well as beyond, with results both effective and easy to care for. Gradually, changing ideas brought increased introductions of plant material from other regions of the world. The University of Arizona, of course, had already opened up and made available horticultural knowledge in many directions, and members of the faculty were, as they still are, very helpful in sharing practical as well as academic wisdom” (written in May 1977)

“This story of the past is only a brief prelude to the increasing interests of the present and those which lie ahead. Tucson happens to be a crossroads for people, but it is possibly more so for plants. In a rough parallel, relatives are reunited, friends are recognized and persuaded to join the community, to mention only members of such well-known families as the Cactacae, the Compositae, the Iridaceae. “

“Although Desert Gardens Nursery was closed in 1958, growing things went on at 2150. The hopes of the family that the place might be kept for continuing usefulness materailized when it was acquired by the city, in 1968, as a garden area to be part of a local park.”

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