Tucson Botanical Gardens - 12/14/14

Botanical gardens are always interesting to us and we have visited ones wherever we find them in our travels. The Tucson Botanical Gardens are a lovely oasis in this Sonoran Desert landscape consisting of 17 specialty gardens on 5.5 acres within the city of Tucson. Originally the home of Bernice and Rutger Porter in the 1920s, the earliest buildings on the property were constructed of adobe at this location.

The entrance is through the gift shop where the admission fee is paid and a map of the Gardens is provided. We started at the Historical Gardens where the first tree we encountered was a beautiful, large, grapefruit tree.

This lovely sculpture was at the entrance to the extensive herb garden.

More herbs.

And this beautiful tile exhibit.

Here's a "sour orange" tree.

Then we came to the fabulous Butterfly House. This one exhibit, Butterfly Magic, is worth the visit to these Gardens. It is a tropical greenhouse that is open October through April and is the only live butterfly exhibit in Arizona.

The butterflies are not indigenous to Arizona and are imported primarily from Asia. They are spectacular and can easily be seen in this small enclosure. Here are some that we had enjoyed seeing today.

This one enjoyed riding around on John's hat for about 15 minutes!

Check out this Atlas moth with a wingspan of up to 12"! The wings look like snakes to ward off predators.

This is a beautiful butterfly, but has gorgeous blue markings on the other side of his wings.

I was not able to catch a photo of it in flight, but this is what it looks like.

As  you would expect, there are amazing plants in the greenhouse that attract the butterflies.

Dart frogs (poisonous frogs from Central and South America) have been introduced to the exhibit to reduce the ants that were damaging the butterflies. They have been effective in managing the problem with no issue to the butterfly or moth populations. Can you see the little guys in the photos below?

Zen Garden.

And, John, in a meditative mood...

Cactus and Succulent Garden.

Native American Crop Garden. Here is an example of how irrigation ditches were built to provide water for the crops.

Tohono O'Odham Round House built of mesquite, creosote, and saguaro ribs. It was the focal point for traditional tribal ceremonies and meetings.

Very skilled at basketry, here are some of the plants used by the Tohono O'odham for their baskets.

Thornville Garden Railway.

Various sculptures can be seen throughout the Gardens.

I took a photo of these just because it was so strange to see these in December!

Petrified wood (and it continues to amaze me!)

Pyracantha...I love berries!

Lovely decorated wall in the courtyard near the exit.

There is a small gift shop with interesting items. I enjoyed browsing and even purchased a shirt plus some postcards for our collection.

Admission to the Gardens is $13/adult. We have the Tucson Attractions Savings Passport and received buy one get one free admission. Be sure to check out the Butterfly House here! It was amazing.

Website:  www.tucsonbotanical.org