Cactus blooms are glorious at Desert Botanical Garden.
The Tea House viewed from the Tea Garden after a rain at Portland Japanese Garden, photo by Tyler Quinn.
Fort Worth Botanic Garden – Fort Worth, Texas Dallas’ often-overlooked sister city is home to one of the country’s finest and most diverse botanical gardens. The 109-acre property features 22 specialized gardens, ranging from a cactus garden to a backyard vegetable garden. All in all, it is home to more than 2,500 species of plants. Notable here is the Japanese Garden, where visitors can wander among koi ponds, stone bridges, waterfalls, and towering stands of bamboo. Popular, too, is the 10,000-square-foot Rain Forest Conservatory, filled with more than 700 species of tropical plants. The complex also serves as a center for advanced botanical exploration and discovery under the direction of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. www.brit.org • 817-392-5510 Desert Botanical Garden – Phoenix, Arizona A stroll through this vast 140-acre desert garden with its five walking trails, permanent trailside exhibits, and special events transforms the visitor experience into one of discovery and learning about the Sonoran Desert and its surprisingly diverse plant life. Experts have described it as the world’s most spectacular living collection of desert plants.
More than two-thirds of the world’s cactus species are represented in the garden’s collection. Of particular note (attention Tequila lovers) is the garden’s Agave collection—186 of the 212 known species of the genus—making it the world’s most prominent Agave collection. In 2017 the garden opened a new 3,200 square-foot butterfly exhibit that incorporates a caterpillar nursery and emergence chamber that allow visitors to view all stages of a butterfly’s life. Temperatures here can exceed 100 degrees many months of the year, so don’t forget a hat, sunscreen, and water for your visit. www.dbg.org • 888-314-9480 Portland Japanese Garden – Portland, Oregon It’s the most Zen spot in the city of Portland, and this peaceful 12-acre spread is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful and authentic Japanese gardens in the world (Japan included). Japanese gardens differ distinctly from most other botanical gardens owing to their meticulous, detailed design and layout. They employ flowers, pagodas, bridges, rocks, and streams to reflect nature in idealized
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COAST TO COAST SPRING MAGAZINE 2022
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