Flowers of Desert Botanical Garden

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.

Coming up Roses

If you love roses, there is no such thing as too many of them. How about walking through a rose garden that has approximately 9,000 rose bushes! That is what you will find at the Mesa Community College Rose Garden, a partnership between Mesa-East Valley Rose Society and MCC. It is the largest public rose garden in the desert southwest, open 24/7 and free to stroll at your own pace and enjoy the roses. There are signs with phone numbers that you can call to get more information on the roses as you walk the garden.

The best months to visit the garden are March, April, May, June, November and December. During the other four months the roses are pruned (not blooming). Our team of six (Tom, Phyllis, Karen, Steve, Jon and I) actually managed to show up on a day they were irrigating the flower beds! No worries, however, we plan on going back. Please enjoy our sample from hundreds of rose images captured.

Tulip Festivals

Phyllis and Jon share photographs taken at the Tulip Festival.  Phyllis wrote, "The festival happens every spring in April, in the farmlands along the Skagit River, north of Seattle.  Mt. Baker is the mountain on the background. It has been cool lately so the daffodils were still blooming and the early and mid tulips were glorious.  Sometimes the color ran as far as I could see.
We visited two sites. Roosen Gaarde has been in the bulb business since 1700, bath here and in Holland.  The display gardens were wonderful, and acres of fields were also open, but quite muddy.  Boots would have been a help.  They also sell cut flowers and over 140 varieties of bulbs for the home gardener. 
Our other stop was at Tulip Town, smaller display gardens, but  acres of blooming tulips .  They sell cut  flowers, and we watched them harvest the stems with buds still closed for shipping. They also sell the bulbs, around 100 different varieties.  
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A very special thank you to Phyllis and Jon for sharing.  I love it when I am told they are going on a trip!!!