When I was planning my trip to Phoenix, I added an extra day to my itinerary for the sole purpose of getting outside the city to explore a bit of the desert. I wanted to see large cacti up close and I really wanted an experience different that the previous days spent exploring the urban environment of downtown Phoenix. Every local I met during my visit stressed to me that I had to visit the Desert Botanical Garden, located about 30 minutes outside the city. I’d get to see all the cacti I wanted in a well-planned garden that blended a rugged terrain with interpretive signs to help me learn more about the vegetation that is indigenous to Arizona.

The Desert Botanical Garden became the highlight of my trip, even more than the novelty of sitting outside drinking beer on patios in November (and that’s saying something for a patio-starved northerner on a southern trip). I got an absolutely perfect day for exploring the gardens. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and even at the early hour I arrived, the day was already warming up nicely.

I got a very pleasant surprise on my visit as there was a public art installation in and amongst many of the gardens. A display entitled “Cracking Art” was set up with recycled plastic animal forms arranged to augment the natural vegetation. This one below, “Silver and Gold” featured small snails.

“The Benefit of Tears” made an interesting statement using a crocodile’s tears to show the importance of the very limited water sources for these plants.

“Look Over Your Shoulder” was an installation that repeated in a number of locations featuring two bears, slightly hidden in denser areas of the gardens, back to back, on alert. It was a message of how areas like these in the garden are in need of vigilant protection due to climate change.

The art installations weren’t the only pops of colour in the arid gardens. I was surprised by the variety and vibrancy of the colours of the flowers throughout the garden.

 

While I adored stumbling upon public art as I explored, the star of the show was the amazing collection of desert plants, the likes of which I had never seen before.

The variety of cacti was remarkable and as I walked between the gardens I was amazed at every turn by what  I was seeing.

At one particular turn I thought I was in a different park in a different state, so surprised to see a wetland with reeds taller than me surrounding a small pond.

While the diversity of vegetation was a wonder, the moments I sat on a bench and stared out over the large cacti with mountains off in the distance were the moments that made this visit so special. The park on this morning was very quiet, the air was perfectly still, and taking in this view made me feel like I could be nowhere else on earth but in Arizona.

After a few hours wandering the park, I felt completely relaxed and at peace. It was a perfect introduction to the Arizona desert and a great warm up for the rest of my afternoon to be spent on a patio in nearby Tempe sipping beers for what would be the last time until many months later when spring would return to my hometown back up north.