rooted in Tucson for 50 years!
History
Celebrating 50 Years at Tucson Botanical Gardens
Tucson Botanical Gardens (TBG) celebrates its 50th Anniversary from October 2025 – May 2026 with a season of festive programming and events. This birthday marks the 50 years the Gardens has been located at the Historic Porter Property, but the story begins over a decade earlier.
The Early Years
Harrison Yocum Sets History in Motion
In 1964, Tucson horticulturist Harrison Yocum placed an ad in a local newspaper, seeking others interested in founding a botanical garden. What began as a modest gathering of plant enthusiasts—and Yocum’s personal collection of cacti and palms—soon grew into a dedicated society of over 100 members. United by a vision for a center of botanical research, education, and enjoyment, they laid the foundation for what would become Tucson Botanical Gardens.
In 1969, the Gardens was officially chartered as a non-profit organization. Soon after, the search began for a permanent home.
A Forever Home
That opportunity came in the early 1970s, when Bernice Porter sought a way to preserve her longtime home at 2150 N Alvernon Way. Since 1931, she and her husband, Rutger—alongside their housekeeper and nanny, Edna—had nurtured both family and garden here. The property, once home to Rutger’s Desert Gardens Nursery, had long been a cherished oasis.
In 1974, the Tucson Botanical Gardens found its forever home on the Porter property. Bernice remained on-site until her passing in 1983, comforted by the knowledge that the land would continue to inspire and delight. “We just didn’t want to see this place go down under a bulldozer,” she said. “Now it will continue to offer as much pleasure to others as we have enjoyed in the past.”
“Today a botanical garden must be much more than pleasurable, interesting, exotic. Now the necessity is a fuller understanding and application of the relationship of plants with all other life on the planet. We must realize, as never before, that plants, which are supported by the earth, support the earth.”
Bernice Porter
The Porter Family
All Roads Lead to Tucson!
Bernice Walkley was born in New Haven, Connecticut. An only child and Vassar graduate, Bernice was also the caretaker for her father, Raymond, in his later years. He suffered from arthritis, and in 1930, the warm, dry air of Tucson brought them to the Southwest.
Rutger Bleeker Porter was born in Hollywood, California, and as a teenager, lived in New York City with his uncle. Later, he studied agriculture at Rutgers University. He decided to move to Tucson in 1927 after several bouts of pneumonia. Alfred and Anna Erickson, founders of the Desert Sanatorium, invited Rutger to stay and work on the landscape. Anna nicknamed him the “Kactus Kid” because of his interest in local plants.
Meet Cute
Bernice’s father heard about Rutger’s landscape services and hired him to work on his El Encanto home. He met Bernice and they fell in love. By 1931, they were married, started their nursery business, and began work on their new home, a small adobe brick dwelling from the 1920s near the corner of Grant St and Maple Boulevard (now Alvernon).
They started a family and expanded the home further for their three daughters. Three bedrooms, two baths, a sleeping porch, and several beautifully landscaped patios and gardens were created. Where the Sensory Ramadas are today was a corral and two horses. A local gathering spot, the property was nicknamed “Porterville”!
The Porter Legacy
Bernice and Rutger were active members of the community. They joined clubs and boards, including Junior League of Tucson, Tucson Medical Center (developed on the site of the Desert Sanatorium Rutger had landscaped), and Tucson Symphony Orchestra. By 1958, the nursery business was closed. Rutger passed away in 1964.
Bernice wanted to ensure the future of their beloved property. She envisioned a public garden and a place dedicated to learning about plants and nature. In 1968, she donated her home and gardens to the City of Tucson explicitly for that use. She continued to live at what would become the Tucson Botanical Gardens until her death in 1983.
“Tucson, with its wide range of terrain and climatic conditions, is particularly well suited for a
Bernice Porter
project which will help bring the public more active interest in botany, horticulture and kindred
fields.”
Putting Down Roots
Realizing a Dream
In 1974, the Tucson City Council passed Resolution 9384, which stated that the Porter’s property would be used for the development of a botanical garden to serve as a horticultural center, a sanctuary for wild birds, and a center for education.
Boyd Allen was President of Board of TBG, now a chartered non-profit, and began the transformation of a private garden into a public botanical garden. In 1983, after Bernice’s death, the City deeded the property to the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
Change and Constancy
Tucson Botanical Gardens has grown and evolved over the years while preserving the Porter Family’s legacy as an important piece of Tucson history.
A move to more sustainable landscaping is reflected in some of those changes: a large grassy area outside Porter Hall was removed and replaced with brick in the late 1970s. In 1991, the raised stage was added to create the perfect space for weddings. The tropical butterfly greenhouse – a former pool cover moved from a nearby home – was added in 1994. Beloved Edna, the family’s housekeeper, nanny, cook, and friend, had a green thumb and grew herbs and other edible plants. Her iconic shed, Edna’s Shed was relocated to the current Herb Garden in 2020.
Building Traditions
Luminaria Nights began in 1987, and became a Tucson holiday staple. In 2022, TBG introduced LightsUp! A Festival of Illumination. This mile-long night-time walk through Gardens features luminarias, luminaria chandeliers and trees, sculptures, and installations wrapped in over a million lights.
In 1988, the SAWARA Xeriscape/Solar Demonstration Garden was opened, and in the 1990s, a compost demonstration area and Butterfly & Pollinator Garden were added. A new educational building was constructed in 2000, and the popular Butterfly Magic exhibit began in the COX Butterfly and Orchid Pavilion in 2004.
A Place of Learning
Programming, exhibits, and events have expanded over the years.
Volunteers play a vital role at the Gardens – from watering and weeding, to helping with membership mailings, to reading stories to our youngest visitors. The Gardens’ docent program began in 1982, and was re-built after a pandemic hiatus in 2025. Trained docents provide tours and information about the Gardens, the plant collection, and the ecosystem that thrives here.
Since 1986, TBG has offered community classes for life-long learners. Year-round educational resources include classes and workshops on desert gardening to botanical illustration to the culinary arts.
“A garden is different from most things. Music doesn’t play itself, pictures don’t paint
Bernice W. Porter
themselves, but gardens will grow themselves – and then you have something that is not yours
alone”
The Gardens Today & in the Future
Growing – and Growing!
In recent years, Tucson Botanical Gardens has increased its commitment to bringing nationally recognized exhibits to Tucson. Beginning in 2015 with the traveling exhibit, Nature Connects and the following year Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life, the Gardens were enormously popular with visitors, and increased the number of members and volunteer participation.
The Visitor Center, first built in 2015, was remodeled in 2025 to increase accessibility from the parking lot and provide more shaded areas for visitors as they arrive.
Looking Ahead
In 2019, a 25-year master plan was completed by landscape architect and public garden master planer, Cindy Tyler of Terra Design Studio, LLC. The plan includes purchasing surrounding properties to expand the current footprint of the Gardens, the addition of a new Butterfly & Orchid Pavilion and Event Center, as well as a new 2-acre Children and Family Garden and Education Center.
In 2025, TBG opened a new Zen Gallery and Meditation Room, ideal for displaying botanical artworks from our collection by Manabu Saito.
A new exhibit, Frida’s Garden, was installed in the summer. The space captures the color and vibrancy of painter Frida Kahlo’s home and garden in Mexico City, all with a Southwestern twist.
We also acquired Yume Japanese Gardens, our neighbor on Alvernon Way. Yume features intimate Kyoto-style courtyard spaces that enhance their subtle scale and quiet atmosphere while offering visitors an immersive cultural experience. It will open to the public in early 2026.
Providing for the Future
To prepare for the next 50 years, the Gardens has created an endowment fund, designed to ensure that this beloved place continues to thrive for decades to come.
To learn more about the Gardens’ future, contact the President and CEO at (520) 326-9686 ext. 115, or email: execdirector@tucsonbotanical.org
