Spring flowers at Desert Botanical Garden come in waves. It all starts with the wildflowers and when it gets too hot for them the cactus flowers may have started to bloom. if you are lucky, and we were, the butterfly exhibit is open. You might even spot a cactus wren gathering nesting materials. These flowers are the result of multiple trips, each time bringing some new discoveries. We hope you enjoy them.
Humble Earth Garden
This is what happens when passion and heart meet up with perseverance and hard work. What you see here is an 'eye' for the 'possibility' of creating something bordering on miraculous. Welcome to the Humble Earth Garden. This special sanctuary is certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. This is the creation of Monica, supported by her husband Steve and when possible her children. It has about been in process for about 20 years. Monica mentioned that she and Steve don't go out much. They would rather stay home. I understood. I did not want to leave.
Tom and I were invited to see the garden. There had been some very heavy rain before we arrived. Nonetheless, the garden was spectacular.
Monica's garden shed. Good night.
Desert Botanical Gardens
DBG is building a new butterfly exhibit that will open in 2017. In the meantime, they are offering butterfly walks on some Saturdays. Instead of having hundreds of butterflies in a small space, you are guided to butterfly friendly areas of the garden in search of butterflies and caterpillars. It turned out to be much more fun than I anticipated. I was not expecting so many cactus to be in bloom. Perhaps it is the abundance of recent rain.
Fortunately, the walk is leisurely and that gave us plenty of time to photograph flowers along the trail.
Not surprisingly, it takes a whole lot more work to get good photographs of butterflies that are free.
They have several live caterpillars on display and our tour guide, Kim, offered to go back after the tour and help us photograph them outside of their enclosures. The yellow banded caterpillar will become a Monarch butterfly. I don't remember what the other caterpillar is destined to become.
There is a lot going on at the gardens. If you haven't been there in a while you just might think of going soon. The weather is getting so nice. Their annual fall plant sale is next weekend. Thanks for sharing our fun. Thanks to Rick, Barbara, Phyllis and Tom for sharing their photos.