Desert Botanical Garden facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Desert Botanical Garden
Desert Botanical Garden
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Location	Phoenix, Arizona, US
Area	140 acres (57 ha)
Established	1939 (1939)
Founder	Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society
Habitats	Bosque semidesert grassland chaparral
Plants	50,000
Species	4,379
Collections	Australian Baja California South American

The Desert Botanical Garden is a special place in Phoenix, Arizona, where you can explore amazing desert plants! It's a huge garden, about 140-acre (57 ha) (that's like 100 football fields!), located in Papago Park.

This garden was started in 1937 by a group called the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society. It officially opened in 1939. Today, it's home to over 50,000 plants from more than 4,000 different types. About one-third of these plants naturally grow in the local area. This includes 379 types that are rare, threatened, or endangered.

The garden has huge collections of agave plants and cacti. There are over 4,000 agave plants and nearly 14,000 cacti! Some plants that can't handle extreme desert heat are kept safe under special shadehouses. The garden focuses on plants that are good at living in dry desert conditions. You can find plants from Australia, Baja California, and South America here. The garden also shows different desert environments, like mesquite forests, semi-desert grasslands, and upland chaparral areas.

The Desert Botanical Garden is so important that it's known as a Phoenix Point of Pride.

How the Garden Started

In the 1930s, a small group of people in Phoenix wanted to protect the delicate desert environment. One of them was a botanist (a plant scientist) named Gustaf Starck from Sweden. He put up a sign saying "Save the desert" to find others who felt the same way.

In April 1934, they formed the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society (ACNFS). Their goal was to create a botanical garden. This garden would help people understand, appreciate, and protect the unique plants of the world's deserts, especially the local Sonoran Desert.

Later, Gertrude Webster joined the Society. She lived in a large home that is now the Arcadia neighborhood. She offered her support, connections, and money to help build the garden in Papago Park. Another person, Margaret Bell Douglas, also helped by donating 1,500 plant samples to the garden's collection.

Gertrude Webster became the first president of the Society's board. In 1938, after a lot of hard work, the board hired George Edmund Lindsay as the garden's first director. He oversaw the first plants being put into the ground. The Desert Botanical Garden opened in 1939. It became a non-profit museum dedicated to studying, teaching about, saving, and showing off desert plants.

Fun Activities and Art at the Garden

The Desert Botanical Garden offers many cool things to do and see. You can go on special tours to learn about desert plants and how to grow them. They also have workshops on nature art, photography, and even health and wellness.

The garden hosts outdoor music concerts in the spring and fall. They also have art exhibitions. Since 1978, they've held a special event called Las Noches de las Luminarias. This festival has become a popular holiday tradition in the Southwest. It features live music and the beautiful glow of 8,000 hand-lit luminarias (paper bags with candles inside).

Volunteers Make a Difference

Volunteers were super important when the garden was first created and when it was growing. In the early days, there weren't many staff members and not much money. These early supporters, including some amateur plant lovers who gave their own plant collections, helped a lot. They planned and ran plant sales, photography shows, art exhibits, and many public events.

Today, volunteers are still a huge help to the garden. They share their time, skills, and professional knowledge. They work closely with the staff to make sure the garden stays a top place for plant research. Volunteers also serve on the Board of Trustees, helping to set rules and guide the garden's future.

Gallery

See also

• List of botanical gardens and arboretums in Arizona
• List of historic properties in Phoenix, Arizona
• List of botanical gardens in the United States