Phoenix Arizona Desert Botanical Gardens: Butterflies

Discussion in 'Garden Visits and Flower Shows' started by Jewell, Oct 11, 2019.

  1. Jewell

    Jewell Incorrigible Gardener Plants Contributor

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    Messages:
    4,383
    Likes Received:
    3,630
    Location:
    Puget Sound Region of the Pacific NW,Zone7b
    I can hardly believe it is mid October. We are leaving frosty weather behind for a few days. We are in Arizona, me for a workshop and Hubby for golf and visiting friends. Our free day together we visited the Phoenix Cactus Gardens. The highlight was the butterfly garden. Over 3,000 butterflies with perfect lighting and even my phone took great photos. I have no idea of the type of butterflies. Being sleep deprived from getting up at 1AM to make our flight I walked around the butterfly house mesmerized by the beauty and dry heat of the desert. Here are a few of the lovelies.

    CCF6F851-3403-4D90-BF44-14C55EA3A2E0.jpeg 882D6122-247B-46CC-BE10-EF670448AD87.jpeg 22C24949-D19C-4953-91E8-C30888917039.jpeg 69B2424A-DEDD-440C-988A-194F6ADDD027.jpeg 4064FCA4-2D49-4249-9680-BEE8C28F8922.jpeg DA8623AF-9380-498C-A071-EE48C2D20785.jpeg 511DBF8D-535D-4C3B-8A78-9F3D89D62598.jpeg
    3C6728E9-5482-4346-A6D2-0F27CEF8CAF4.jpeg

    I had never been in a butterfly garden with so many nectar flowers and having such a feeling of being in a magical garden space. It was well worth the visit. The cactus garden was nice also, but simply out done by the fairy dancers.
     
    Droopy, Pacnorwest, Frank and 5 others like this.
  2. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2005
    Messages:
    29,088
    Likes Received:
    6,281
    Location:
    Scotland
    Such a wonderful array of exotic butterflies - I can see why you were so mesmerized by them all.
     
    Pacnorwest, Logan, Islandlife and 2 others like this.
  3. Gail-Steman

    Gail-Steman Young Pine

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2018
    Messages:
    2,228
    Likes Received:
    1,527
    Location:
    Staffordshire-UK Zone 4
    @Jewell it must have been lovely watching the arrays of colour and the pic's are beautiful :heart:..we mainly have white ones in our garden and hardly ever see nice coloured ones.
     
    Logan, Islandlife and Jewell like this.
  4. Islandlife

    Islandlife Young Pine

    Joined:
    Jul 8, 2016
    Messages:
    2,009
    Likes Received:
    1,703
    @Jewell - Gorgeous! Your photos are fantastic. You really have captured those butterflies in all their glory. Lovely.
     



    Advertisement
  5. Sjoerd

    Sjoerd Mighty Oak

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2006
    Messages:
    21,058
    Likes Received:
    21,200
    Glorious pics, Jewell.
    I could spend hours in the butterfly houses here.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
  6. Jewell

    Jewell Incorrigible Gardener Plants Contributor

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    Messages:
    4,383
    Likes Received:
    3,630
    Location:
    Puget Sound Region of the Pacific NW,Zone7b
    Eileen, except for the monarch butterfly, I was unfamiliar with any of these little gems.

    Gail, the butterflies we have are very few also, so a treat to see such a variety of species.

    Islandlife, the butterflies were so plentiful that one had to be aware so as not to accidentally step on one. When leaving we checked to make sure their were no hitchhiking butterflies. This made even my iPhone into an incredible camera after a little cropping or the original. The desert lighting was also perfect. I just had to ask hubby not to cast shadows where I was pointing.

    Sjoerd, you are so right. Spending time in a butterfly house is amazing. The other ones I have visited were for tropical butterflies and had an entirely different flavor.
     
    Pacnorwest, Logan, Sjoerd and 2 others like this.
  7. Gail-Steman

    Gail-Steman Young Pine

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2018
    Messages:
    2,228
    Likes Received:
    1,527
    Location:
    Staffordshire-UK Zone 4
    Jewell it's weird how we don't see much though :headscratch:
     
    Pacnorwest and Logan like this.
  8. Logan

    Logan Strong Ash

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2018
    Messages:
    6,377
    Likes Received:
    10,385
    Location:
    Redditch Worcestershire UK
    Such lovely butterflies @Jewell , don't know any of them except for the monarch. I've seen the small blue,orange tipped white,speckled wood, speckled lady, peacock, brimstone and red admiral. But there's not a lot of them. Of course there's a lot of the cabbage white but they're going down in numbers as well.
     
    Pacnorwest and Gail-Steman like this.
  9. Pacnorwest

    Pacnorwest Hardy Maple

    Joined:
    May 16, 2018
    Messages:
    3,956
    Likes Received:
    9,466
    Great shots… thanks for sharing..:smt041
     

Share This Page