With the opening of the new Sybil B. Harrington Cactus and Succulent Galleries in April, the final planning stages of the Garden’s next major endeavor, the Ottosen Entry Garden, has been launched. As part of its $16 million Tending the Garden Campaign to Endow the Future, the Desert Botanical Garden has created a new entry experience to welcome visitors. Funded by a generous gift from the Ottosen Family Foundation, the new exhibit has become the grand lobby of the Desert Botanical Garden, announcing to visitors that they have arrived at a unique and exciting Southwest destination.
As visitors approach the Desert Botanical Garden they enter a world where a unique interaction with nature speaks strongly about the beauty and diversity of desert plants. This dramatic new entry experience will confirm the Garden’s identity for the visitor, and spark anticipation and curiosity about the plants and displays within. The new entry garden takes advantage of location, approach, orientation, form, and color to communicate Desert Botanical Garden’s underlying messages about the exhibit and its relationship to the natural environment and to the community.
