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.

The Queens and Kings of Wings enjoyed music all day from the entertainment on the patio where the annual Chili and Chocolate Festival at the Desert Botanical Gardens was underway. The day was just wonderful in every way from perfect weather to people watching, food, and butterflies to photograph. Karen and I even took in a cooking demo on making mole from Gertrude's chef. To top it off, the students and instructors from Yumi La Rosa, a flamenco dance school, put on several flamenco dance exhibitions. Enjoy our day without any parking hassles!

Of course, there is much more to the Garden than butterflies. Here are just a few examples of how much fun this place can be.

I was trying a new composing technique that Karen had just shared with me and in my viewfinder I spot the following image. Rescue this poor critter that is trapped in cactus!!! I had just enough sense to try and stay with my subject this time (some of you may chuckle in remembering the beach scene). But, he was quickly gone, scampering up the back of the cactus only to appear happily on top! He pulled one of the loose fruit up from the cactus and settled in for lunch.

"I think I will just have my lunch in the sun."

"You will need a model release and my posing fee is not included in your admission.!

I watched him eat for 8 minutes, slowly moving my tripod ever closer. I wanted him to hurry up and scamper back down. I had a plan on how I was going to capture him going down. You know the old saying, "The best laid plans . . . " Some 50 shots later, he set down his fruit. I did not capture his descent as he quickly turned and went down the back side of the cactus. The fruit he left behind on top was quickly picked up and carried off up by a nearby bird.

"OK, did you get it?  Would you like me to do it again?  He scampered right back up the back.  Once he realized his food was gone he quickly went down the backside again.  I think he believes I took it! — "OK, did you get it? Would you like me to do it again? He scampered right back up the back. Once he realized his food was gone he quickly went down the backside again. I think he believes I took it!

To celebrate chili and chocolate, the patio and surrounding garden is turned into an indoor/outdoor market with about 30 vendors, most of them small local businesses. It looked to me like most of the products were organic, utilized local ingredients and had a bit of kick to them! Some had a LOT of kick and came with names like Scorpion Hell! We had lunch on the patio, watched flamenco dancers and just kept mentioning that we hated to leave. So we didn't!!

Desert Botanical Gardens

Of Monarchs, Chili and Chocolate

Index