It won’t be long before Arizona’s famous heat ensures the only thing stirring outside are heat waves themselves. Fortunately, there’s still time to enjoy something much prettier moving around out there.
Desert Botanical Garden’s Spring Butterfly Exhibit is open through May 13. The spacious enclosed garden habitat is home to hundreds of butterflies, going about their daily routines as if large numbers of humans all up in their business is no bother at all.
Inside the structure, Painted Ladies, Giant Swallowtails, Great Southern Whites, Zebra Swallowtails, Queens, Julias, Malachites, and their kaleidoscopic kin flutter past, bask on plants and slake their thirst at puddles. People, meanwhile, tread carefully, snap photos, issue oohs and ahhs.
Garden volunteers answer questions and share information about the habitat, and display areas feature butterfly host plants and up-close views of the delicate butterflies.
The exhibit makes a wondrous outing for youngsters still awed by the nature. It’s a pretty good bet for Mother’s Day, too.
DETAILS >> 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through May 13. Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix. $3.50 per person with paid Garden admission of $18 for adults, $15 for seniors 60 and older, $10 for kids 13-18 and college students with proper ID, and $8 for children 3-12. Children 2 and younger and Garden members are admitted free. (480) 941-1225 or www.dbg.org.
