Desert Botanical Garden | Arizona Desert Botanical Garden

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Arizona Desert Botanical Garden

Desert Botanical Gardens: Phoenix, Arizona

The Arizona Desert Botanical Garden is an interesting place in Phoenix, Arizona to view one of the world’s best collections of desert plants. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Garden has 50 acres of outdoor exhibits and is home to 139 rare, threatened or endangered plant species. In addition to offering research and educational programs, the Garden is one of our favorite Arizona places to visit, especially when we have out of town visitors. The Garden has many special events throughout the year and we have enjoyed attending many of them.

Nearly every holiday season since we’ve lived in Arizona, we have attended Las Noches de las Luminarias Holiday Light Celebration at the Arizona Desert Botanical Garden. We usually purchase advance tickets (required) to attend the celebration on the day after Thanksgiving and it really gets us in the holiday spirit! The Garden becomes alive with thousands of luminarias lighting the paths and exhibits. Listen to music performed by a variety of musicians. Wine and cider are offered for sale along the way. Bundle up! The desert gets very cold in the evening!

Two years ago we brought along the Izzo family; Francesco and Alba along with their children, Natalia
and Michael to

Las Noches de las Luminarias. We
have been friends with the Izzos for over 30 years and on Christmas, 2008 they
decided to come to Arizona from Rhode Island to spend the holiday season with us! We had a most enjoyable evening at the Desert Botanical Garden as there was a special exhibit that year: The Nature of Glass
by Dale Chihuly.

Michael shot some photos in the Garden that we have included here.

Birds Nest In Cactus There are many events at the Botanical Gardens. One that we have enjoyed is the Spring Butterfly Exhibit. When Paul’s mother is visiting from the east coast, she enjoys attending this event. In the Marshall Butterfly Pavilion, the butterflies flutter about as you stand right there with them, up close. A few butterflies even land on us! It’s a wonderful way to welcome in the spring season in the desert!

In November Corks & Cactus is a fabulous event featuring boutique wines and gourmet appetizers. The event is held against the backdrop of the beautiful Sonoran desert. It’s a sophisticated and entertaining evening that sells out quickly! Guests have an opportunity to speak with representatives from a variety of wineries and to purchase the wines. All wine purchase proceeds directly benefit the Garden.

While visiting wineries in Arizona make sure you take some time to visit the beautiful Desert Botanical Garden.

Written By: Carol A. Wilcox

Carol A. Wilcox is a writer and marketing communications professional with over 20 years of entrepreneurial business experience. She is the co-owner of Southwest Wine Guide, an online wine guide on where to tour, where to taste wines, where to stay, where to dine and places of interest in the Southwest United States and other regions. Carol is also the owner of Wild Dove Marketing, LLC, a marketing and writing services company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
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