In 2001, Flagstaff, Arizona was named the first International Dark Sky City. Now there are more than 200 places named as Dark ...

Spring brings color to Arizona’s desert landscape. In May, the season reaches its most iconic display with towering saguaros ...

An American desert icon is dying off in the southwestern United States. Experts say record-setting summers and intense droughts in Arizona are causing a well-known succulent to struggle. The saguaro ...

The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona has been certified as a "Dark Sky Park." ...

A visit to this Missouri cactus garden reveals a surprising pocket of desert beauty, making it feel like the Southwest is hiding in plain sight.

Soon I’ll trek into the Mojave Desert, once again chasing cactus colors: strawberry hedgehog cactus on spiky gray columns, pale yellow pencil cholla flowers at sunset. I’ll return in May to see ...

The desert prickly-pear, known to botanists as Opuntia phaeacantha, is the Southwest's most widespread and abundant species of cactus. Unlike the giant saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) that is restricted ...

Cacti may look like slow, stubborn desert survivors, but they’re actually evolving at lightning speed. Scientists studying ...

With their tough skins, pointy armor and legendary stamina, cacti are made to defend themselves from whatever nature throws at them. But large solar energy facilities are one threat that cacti weren’t ...

A brash, noisy woodpecker with zebra stripes down its back has found an unusual place to call home. The Gila woodpecker has ...

Signaling the end of spring, smoke trees in the desert washes become dotted with tiny bluish-purple blooms at the beginning of summer each year. The color is deep and distinct and has been revered by ...