Tucson Botanical GardensBeautiful Tucson Garden Gem is Tranquil Escape in the Heart of the CityWhat You'll See at the Tucson Botanical GardensTucked into the heart of the city, the lovely Tucson Botanical Gardens feels like a secret oasis in the middle of the busy town. This garden gem has 16 specialty gardens on 5½ acres.
Here, you can see hardy native desert plants such as saguaro cactus, spiky ocotillos and dramatic agaves along with colorful herbs, roses, irises and wildflowers. Tucson Botanical Gardens is also a refuge for desert animals that have adapted to city life. Lizards, ground squirrels, butterflies and many species of birds find a home among the garden's abundant supply of fruits, seeds, water and nectar-rich flowers. Each themed garden has its own unique character and illustrates the array of plants that can survive Tucson’s warm, low water environment. The Sensory Patios, a recently remodeled series of five ramadas, feature small garden designs that are perfect for home gardeners. Here, you can see a floral patio, a kitchen courtyard, a desert ramada, a wildlife sanctuary and a Zen garden. Filled with flowers, water features and garden art, these accessible gardens are great examples of how you can have a colorful, diverse garden in a small space. We love to stroll through the Tucson Botanical Garden’s Backyard Bird Garden, which shows how you can create habitat for wildlife in your own backyard. All you need do is provide the plants that offer food, shelter and nesting materials for birds.
A crested saguaro provides a nesting hole and fruits for Gila woodpeckers. Ornamental grasses and the yellow-flowered brittle bush attracts seed-eating birds such as Gambel's quail, cardinals and finches. Brightly colored orioles often feed at agave flowers. Southwest coral bean, Baja fairy duster and Mexican bush sage draw hummingbirds to their colorful, nectar-filled flowers. Beautifully painted interpretive signs illustrate the bird species and the plants with which they are most associated. This garden is a perfect spot to sit quietly on the wall bench and see the amazing variety of birds that come to feed. Don't miss the Nuestro Jardin, a colorful barrio garden that illustrates the distinctive yards and gardens found in Tucson’s Mexican American community.
This adobe-walled pueblo garden is filled with flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. A small shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe is evocative of the area’s Hispanic heritage. The Children’s Discovery Garden is designed to take children on a journey through the life cycle of a plant. Huge metal sculptures of a bee, butterfly and bat show teach kids about the pollinators that plants need in order to reproduce. This colorful, fun garden encourages play and exploration. The Tucson Botanical Gardens is a lush escape and teaches us how to garden in the dry climates using the wide array of plants that thrive in low water use conditions. A stroll through this garden's diverse plantings always makes a relaxing and pleasant escape, whether your on an Arizona vacation or are a local looking for a natural refuge from city life. History of the Tucson Botanical GardensThe Tucson Botanical Gardens was originally begun by horticulturalist and educator Harrison G. Yocum in 1964.
An enthusiastic collector, Yocum created an extensive assemblage of cacti and palms at his home. He opened his yard to the public and eventually created memberships to the garden and founded a non-profit corporation. A few years later, in the early 1970s, Bernice Walkley Porter was looking for a way to preserve her home and gardens from the ever increasing development of central Tucson. Bernice and her husband, Rutger, had raised a family and ran the Desert Gardens Nursery from their large property. Bernice loved animals and plants and wanted to have a place where nature could still reside among the houses and shopping centers. By combining forces and plant collections, Harrison Yocum, Bernice Porter and the members of the Tucson Botanical Gardens Society created the Tucson Botanical Gardens - an invaluable, lasting legacy that we can all enjoy today.
The Porters’ adobe block house is now the library and administrative offices. Although the house has undergone extensive remodeling to accommodate the facilities, many of the rooms retain the original look and character of the Porter family home. The family’s garden is still here and is now called the Historical Gardens. Although the short-lived stone fruit trees did not survive, you can still see the original citrus and pomegranates. The olives, oleander, grapefruit trees and monk’s pepper in the Historical Gardens are representative of the plants that were commonly used in Tucson during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Tucson Botanical Garden HighlightsImagine walking among fluttering clouds of huge, brilliantly colored butterflies in a warm, tropical climate in the middle of January.
Well, you can do just that during the Tucson Botanical Gardens annual Butterfly Magic at the Gardens. This indoor, 1,000 square foot greenhouse-style exhibit has hundreds of tropical butterflies in all shapes, sizes and colors. Open from October through April, you can wander among the tropical plants and see gorgeously colored butterflies representing over 100 different species. The butterflies are reared in tropical butterfly farms and come from countries all over the world, including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Suriname, the Philippines, Thailand and Florida. The Butterfly Magic exhibit is kept at a constant 85°F and 85% humidity, just how the butterflies like it - so you won't need your coat in there!
What if you want to see butterflies but can’t make it to the Tucson Botanical Gardens between October and February? Visit their outdoor Butterfly Garden. Planted with low water use and indigenous plants, this garden attracts many native butterflies including:
Look for clouds of orange and black queen butterflies at the nectar-rich, fuzzy blue flowers of Eupatorium greggii. Seeing dozens of these striking butterflies all feeding and fluttering around the flowers is an amazing site to behold! Favorite Feature at the Tucson Botanical GardensOne of our favorite specialty gardens at the Tucson Botanical Gardens is the Plants of the Tohono O’odham Path.
Here, you can see how the indigenous Tohono O’odham people coexisted with the plants of the Sonoran Desert. For them, plants were not only necessary to their survival but also played an important part in their cultural and religious ceremonies. Interpretive signs explain how the Tohono O’odham used plants like agave, devil’s claw and prickly pear cactus for food, medicine, fiber and construction. Hands-on displays let you discover Tohono O’odham traditional practices by pounding mesquite beans into flour using a mortar and pestle. Or, you can knock saguaro fruit from the tops of these tall columnar cacti using a traditional harvesting pole. An authentic saguaro harvest ramada illustrates where they would prepare the saguaro fruit to create syrup and wine, during summer, in the hottest part of the year. According to O'odham belief, this annual ceremony is an important ritual that helps bring the summer monsoon rains to the desert and the O'odham's farm fields. Tucson Botanical Garden Visitor AmenitiesThe Tucson Botanical Gardens has a wonderful gift shop.
This treasure trove is filled with wildflower seeds, note cards, garden-inspired arts and crafts and Southwestern foods like prickly pear syrup and jalapeño jelly. The gift shop also has a great collection of books on gardening, cooking, home design and Southwestern natural history and culture. The Gardens' also offers a wonderful variety of lectures, gardening and flower-arranging classes, guided tours, yoga and tai chi classes and natural history walks. For children, there are field trips, nature programs and day camps. Special events include home garden tours and plant sales. From October through May, the Gardens' Café serves sandwiches, salads and soups using fresh seasonal produce and herbs. They also have a children's menu, pastries, coffee and teas. The gardens now also has a the Seven Cups Tea House, located in the Grove of Peace and Harmony garden. This tea house is an outpost of the Seven Cups traditional Chinese tea house in the Sam Hughes neighborhood downtown at 2516 E. 6th Street. Seven Cups is an American tea company, based in Tucson, that sells traditional, hand-harvested Chinese teas. The tea house at Tucson Botanical Garden serves organic Chinese teas and Japanese desserts. The tea house is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Fast Facts: Tucson Botanical GardensWhat to Know Before You Go:
Location: Central Tucson Address: 2150 North Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85712 Google Map Directions: Click on "+" and "-" signs on Map Controls in upper left hand corner to zoom in and out on the location. Phone: (520) 326-9686 Hours: The garden hours: Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Butterfly exhibit hours: Open daily from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Note: The Gardens and Butterfly exhibit is closed on January 1, July 4, Thanksgiving and December 24-25. Garden Cafe Hours: Open daily, October through May from 10:30 am - 2:30 pm. Seven Cups Tea House Hours: Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. General Admission Fee: (does not include special events) Butterfly Exhibit Admission (Gardens admission included in exhibit cost): Amenities: Garden café serves lunch in spring and fall (call for schedule); tea house; Picnic area; Gift shop; Plant nursery; Reference library. Wheelchairs available on a first come, first served; inquire in the gift shop. Activities: Guided tours; plant sales; gardening and landscaping classes; nature hikes; arts and crafts classes; day camps for kids. Note: The information in this review was accurate at the time of our visit. All contact information, availability, access, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the facility before making reservations and/or travel plans.
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