Botanic Briefings

DATES: Nov. 13, Dec. 4, Jan. 13, Feb. 11
TIMES: 12-1 p.m.
PRICE: Included in Garden Admission or Membership

Join us for monthly informative presentations from Garden staff and other local experts.

Nov. 13: A Roadmap for Early Warning Detection of Plant Stress of the Garden’s Living Collection

Kevin Hultine, Director of Research

Recent summer temperatures have soared to new records in Phoenix. These, and future predicted heat waves are poised to have a profound impact on the Desert Botanical Garden’s living collection. This seminar will illustrate how state-of-the-art environmental sensors will eventually be deployed to establish an early warning system for detecting plant stress, that in turn, will establish a road map for preserving the Garden’s living collection in the face of unprecedented heat exposure.

Dec. 4: Conserving Arizona’s Unique Landscape

Vicki Preston, President and CEO of Desert Foothills Land Trust

Learn how to help protect the Sonoran Desert. Join Vicki Preston, President and CEO of Desert Foothills Land Trust, as she shares the biggest threats facing this amazing ecosystem, what’s being done to save it, and how you can make a difference.

Jan. 13: Research and Horticulture’s Expedition to Oaxaca, Mexico

• Andrew Salywon, Herbarium Curator and Research Botanist
• Wendy Hodgson, Herbarium Curator Emerita and Senior Research Botanist
• Octavio Rivera, Plant Form Specialist for Agave and Aloe

Learn from our Research, Conservation and Collections team as they share tales from the field on their recent plant expedition to Oaxaca, Mexico in August 2025.

Feb. 11: Diamonds are Wherever: Seeking Ecological Treasure in the Namib Desert’s Restricted Diamond Mining Area

Dr. Joe McAuliffe, Director Emeritus and Senior Research Scientist

Following the discovery of diamonds in the southern Namib Desert in 1908, access to this area has been severely restricted. To this day, few ecologists have had the opportunity to examine this extremely arid region. Dr. Joe McAuliffe had the unusual opportunity to spend two weeks working in this area in 2022, and will share some of what he saw and learned during that experience.