Tour of the Desert Botanical Garden
Camera: Canon Eos R8
Lens: Canon RF24-105 4-7.1f
This is a lengthy post covering many parts of the local botanical garden, as well as my short hike before!
My day began with a short hike up this unique mountain! I’m not sure where all the little holes came from, but no other mountains in the area look quite like these ones.
About halfway up the hill I found a little memorial and resting spot, it had a wonderful view of the city on one side and the sunrise on the other! In the photo of the sunrise you can see another person hiking early, I went over to where he was since it seemed like a good spot for photos!
After climbing up a misleadingly steep incline I took a moment to take a panoramic shot of the desert, unfortunately I need to find a better way to display that photo on my site so it isn’t included here. All the way up there someone had drawn a little heart for their relationship I assume, I just barely noticed it through the bush it was behind!
I still had a while to wait for the garden to open, so I found a nice rock facing the sunrise and took a break for a while, I found some small flowers while I was waiting. I also got a beautiful view of a sunrise behind the rainclouds!
Heading down the hill I got to the garden a few minutes early still, I wandered around the parking lot and their little waiting area enjoying the peacefulness and the birds nearby, as well as a couple rabbits waiting for the garden to open too!
Finally it was time to get into the garden! I will be trying to break up the sections a bit to keep this organized somewhat! This is the entrance area to the garden, showcasing large glass sculptures and tons of cacti varieties! They were also exhibiting a couple large bronze statues from an artist.
The first stop was over to the pollinator garden section, this area is filled with flowers that pollinators like bees, hummingbirds and butterflies love! Unfortunately it was a little cold and rainy out for the butterflies and hummingbirds, so only a few brave bees were out in the weather. I’ll be returning at a later date to photograph the butterflies!
Throughout the path there are little signs giving bits of information about the local ecosystem, these are the ones from the pollinator garden!
Tucked away in the pollinator garden is a shady little spot! The last time I was here this spot was covered in bees but this time I got to sit at the bench for a little while!
This cactus is a memorial, it was created using the pickaxe heads used to dig up native plants! A bird decided it would still make a good spot for a nest!
Now onto the Sonoran Desert section! This features a ton of cacti and local plantlife!
This next portion is a covered area containing dozens of small cacti varieties and a wealth of knowledge!
This little area was dedicated to aloe and century plants, very similar looking but different! There are of course still some cacti scattered throughout, cant go anywhere in this garden without being near a cactus!
The final stretch of the garden is somewhat like a nature walk, its a path through a natural landscape albeit a bit packed with native plants. Tons of saguaros!
Throughout the garden they have some specific plaques for old plants with their history! Along with the other bronze statue being displayed!
Alright I think that’s most of what the garden had to offer this time! The butterfly exhibit was closed for the weather so didnt get to visit that part yet! Its one of my favorite parts of the garden here! But I still have some random photos from between various spots, so here are the rest of the photos I liked from there!
