Photos by Laura Moss As a staff horticulturist, educator and curator of shrubs at Desert Botanical Garden (DBG), Kirti Mathura has many opportunities to impart her plant knowledge to the public. Here, she poses with malabar nut—a medicinal plant—at DBG.

Horticulturalist Kirti Mathura spreads the word on desert plants

What do Michigan, Costa Rica and the Sonoran Desert have in common? Horticulturist Kirti Mathura has lived in all these places and has mastered gardening in their varied growing conditions.

As a child in Michigan, Mathura loved tending gardens with her mother and grandmother. “I’ve always had a passion for plants, and my mom gave me flexibility to try whatever interested me,” she recalls.

Recently, while sorting through memorabilia that her mother had saved, Mathura uncovered her childhood garden designs. “Paging through them surprised me, because I’m still using some of those ideas today,” she notes.

After obtaining a botany and environmental biology degree from the University of Montana, Mathura spent two years in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, where she taught environmental science, developed a tree nursery project, and worked with farmers to promote reforestation.

“My next stop was the Valley of the Sun in 1987, toiling in the fields as a cotton picker,” Mathura jokes, referring to her stint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cotton genetics program. However, it was the Sonoran Desert’s native plants that captured her imagination. A mere two weeks after arriving here, Mathura began volunteering at Desert Botanical Garden (DBG). “I knew during my first visit to DBG that I wanted to be a part of it,” she recalls.

Kirti Mathura says that in late spring through early summer, the Wildlife Garden at Desert Botanical Garden is brimming with color. Annuals and perennials provide winged wildlife with nectar and seed.

In 1994, she was hired on as a public horticulturist, and today she is curator of shrubs. She also oversees the Steele Herb Garden exhibit and teaches public classes and courses for DBG’s Desert Landscaper School.

When DBG was developing the new Steele Herb Garden in 2006 and 2007, Mathura used her extensive knowledge of herbs to plan seven themed beds, including Culinary, Medicinal, Mediterranean, Picante, Sensory, Tea, and Wildlife. She’s a longtime member of the Arizona Herb Association, and the Herb Society of America; the latter awarded her with their Helen de Conway Little Medal of Honor in 2009.

In addition to teaching, Mathura has shared her knowledge in print as author of The Arizona Low Desert Flower Garden (Gibbs Smith, 2007) and as co-author of the award-winning Desert Landscaping for Beginners (Arizona Master Gardener Press, 2001).

During her tenure at DBG, Mathura has observed a trend that excites her—the increased availability of native plants offered by growers. “It goes hand-in-hand with the public’s greater appreciation for these plants and their desire to add them to their landscapes,” she remarks.

This Master of the Southwest’s public outreach activities have helped promote this positive change in attitude, according to those who have seen her in action. Mathura’s popular classes encourage people to use native and lesser-known herbal plants to create water-thrifty, colorful landscapes, according to Robyn Baker, a city of Scottsdale water-conservation specialist. “Kirti is a favorite speaker at our landscaping workshops,” Baker notes. “Participants’ evaluations are filled with superlatives, and many comment that she has inspired them to create a landscape filled with desert plants.”

“My goal is to inspire enthusiasm for desert plants and help people understand our unique soil, climate and growing seasons,” Mathura explains. “With those basics under your belt, anyone can create beautiful, flourishing gardens.”

A variety of textures and colors can be found in the Sensory Garden, even when the plants are not in bloom. Pictured here is lavender and Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’.

Purple-blooming Mexican bush sage is a favorite of hummingbirds.

A tiny hummer collects pollen from Hot Lips sage.

This clove-scented dianthus, called clove pink, “pumps out blooms almost year-round,” says Mathura.

Both time and thyme are always present at the plant-filled sundial in the Steele Herb Garden.

Backed by nearby buttes, the Sensory Garden offers a well-orchestrated mix of blooming flora.

A queen butterfly sips nectar from fern leaf lavender, a great winter bloomer, notes Kirti Mathura.