Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix

Springtime is the best time to visit! (I visited in March.) The weather was perfect and all the plants were blooming! The scents in spring are absoutely gorgeous. It's a great place to exercise, hang out, learn, and enjoy nature. My exercise group likes to walk there on free admission day, which happens once a month. If you have little ones, keep a close eye because there are lots of cacti just off the trail. Other than that, it's a great place for the whole family!

Visiting Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix is a magical experience. The garden is beautiful and has a world class collection of Desert Plants in their outdoor exhibit that are rare and endangered. The Botanical Garden helps people learn about the characteristics of desert plants and how to protect and preserve the Desert's natural beauty. Visiting the the Spring Butterfly Exhibit in the newly opened Butterfly Pavilion and observing the colorful butterflies is by itself joyful. The Garden is also showcasing potted specimens for those interested. People have the option to rent a wheelchair for roaming around the garden and they can also dine in the special restaurant if they want to. A great and enjoyable experience.

What a fascinating, relaxing, wonderful experience. We have taken a couple groups of visiting family here and they also thoroughly enjoyed it. You learn so much about our local desert plant life as well as endangered, unusual, and beautiful plant life around the world. The staff is knowledgeable and passionate - lots of volunteers. Try to catch a free guided tour when you go and plan on a few hours or more. There is so much to see and, even though I'm not a gardener and certainly don't have a green thumb, I was enchanted and plan to go back regularly. They also just opened their butterfly garden, which was fun. There are scooters for rental so, if you have trouble walking longer distances, you can still enjoy this precious gem of Phoenix.

Incredibly well put together and the abundance of variety was fascinating. I've been to quite a few botanical gardens around the world but have never been to one that filled so much space with one type of plant. Plan for 2-3 hours to see it all and bring a reusable bottle with you. They have plenty of filling stations. Keep your eyes peeled for so the small critters including lizards, birds, squirrels, and frogs.

This was a great place to spend a few hours to enjoy and learn about the amazing plants and wildlife in the desert. We joined one tour which was really great because you learn about all the different types of plants that survive out in the desert. I think I got a greater appreciation for what the gardens had to offer after the tour, because if I had just walked through the gardens on my own they'd probably all just be desert plants and wouldn't have realized the different types of plants that were there. There is a discount if you have AAA, which is always nice. But overall it was a nice place to visit.