Public Gardens Listing: Desert Botanical Garden (Phoenix, AZ)
While balcony container gardeners enjoy their small-space urban gardens, sometimes a few container plants on an apartment balcony above a busy street just isn’t peaceful enough. Balcony gardeners might not be able to have a peaceful, large garden, but there are public gardens and arboretums near every major city. Don’t just fawn over pictures of luxurious gardens, get out there and enjoy a day at a public garden! You may even bring some gardening inspiration home to your own balcony container garden.
If you live in or are visiting the Phoenix, Arizona, area, why not visit the Desert Botanical Garden?
- The 145-acre Desert Botanical Garden is visited by more than 640,000 people each year.
- The Desert Botanical Garden’s sole focus is on desert plants, and the garden has more than 21,000 plants, including 169 rare, threatened or endangered desert plant species. The garden even has seeds and pollen of rare plants stored in a seed bank.
- Visit the five themed trails at the Desert Botanical Garden, which include the Desert Discovery Trail, Plants and People of the Sonoran Desert Trail and a wildflower trail.
- Check the Desert Botanical Garden’s website for special events. The Mariposa Monarca is a fall festival devoted to monarch butterflies, and Las Noches de las Luminarias displays lights at night in December.
- Take a tour of the Desert Botanical Garden. Tours can include Desert Discovery and Birds in the Garden docent-led tours, self-guided audio tours of the Desert Discovery Loop Trail, Garden Flashlight Tours during summer nights and more. These tours are free with paid admission.
- Famous glass artist Dale Chihuly has a permanent installation called The Desert Towers at the Desert Botanical Garden’s entry. More than 550,000 came to see his exhibition from November 2008 to May 2009. Dale Chihuly’s artwork can also be found at the New York Botanical Garden, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the Missouri Botanical Garden and more.
Desert Botanical Garden Quick Info
dbg.org
(480) 941-1225
1201 N. Galvin Parkway Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Admission $18 ($15 for seniors, $10 for students 13 to 18, $8 for children 3 to 12)
Open daily from 8am-8pm October through April and 7am-8pm May through September
Closed Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day
