Guests can now enjoy a stroll in Desert Botanical Garden’s new Ahearn Portal, a reimagined open space area that leads visitors into the Hazel Hare Center for Plant Science, Agave Circle and The RAF Exhibit Gallery.
The Portal is an inviting space that features calming water that trickles down a cascade of boulders, flagstone paving, curved seat walls and more than 600 plant specimens from the Garden’s living collection that create a welcoming experience for visitors.
The design is inspired by Arizona hallmarks: native flagstone, and boulder outcroppings and rock terraces indigenous peoples used to grow domesticated agaves.
Visitors will witness a variety of native agave species throughout the Portal. This includes some agaves rediscovered by Garden botanists.
Ahearn Portal is the entryway into the new The RAF Exhibit Gallery, which will host Orchid Fever—the Garden’s first-ever orchid show.
This spring, visitors can immerse themselves in colorful blooms all around the newly constructed area. Outside, bright pink Parry’s penstemon are blossoming, as well as other Sonoran Desert native plants. And inside The RAF Exhibit Gallery, guests can explore 3,000 orchids in bloom in a unique space that combines tropical plants with an arid, Sonoran Desert plant palette.
Access to Ahearn Portal and Orchid Fever are both included in general admission. For Orchid Fever, guests must select Admission + Orchid Fever ticket option at check. Grab your tickets today at dbg.org.
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