I've lived in Phoenix on and off for 5 years and what first inspired me was the gorgeous weather in the winter time. (Ha! I was fooled! ;) ) Then it was the landscape and plant life here. This is the desert! It gets hot here...those from Phoenix know this. How can anything POSSIBLY live in this weather! It does and it's beautiful...a very different kind of beautiful.
I've visited the Desert Botanical Garden a few times since I've lived here and at first I was naive and thought "this is a botanical garden? what a joke!" The more time I spend in Phoenix and during my many travels around the state throughout the year I got a better understanding of how all the plant life survived. So when I visit the DBG I looked at everything a little closer and found a new appreciating for the desert and for all the animals that share the desert with the plants. There are many different trails you can follow and they have explanations in front of the different types of cacti and plant life. The last time I went there I made sure to take some pictures of everything I was interested in growing some day. I've learned that saguaro can take YEARS to grow so wish me luck on that.
The DBG is highly recommended if you are used to the typical floral gardens out east. Even if you've lived in Phoenix all your life it's a great place to go and learn something about the desert.
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