Discover the Refurbished Sun Garden at the Botanical Garden
August 19, 2026
)
City Park Conservancy (CPC) invites the community to discover a little desert in the swamp as the New Orleans Botanical Garden celebrates its newly refreshed Sun Garden on Wednesday, September 2, from 10am-12pm.
Held during the Botanical Garden’s weekly free admission day for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation, the community morning will offer visitors an opportunity to explore the transformed garden, learn about succulents and water-conscious gardening, and take home a complimentary succulent while supplies last. Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls will also be on site featuring City Park’s limited-edition Bloom Ball, with a limited number available complimentary to guests while supplies last, and additional sno-balls available for purchase.
The refreshed Sun Garden introduces a dramatically different landscape to the Botanical Garden, bringing together hundreds of cacti, succulents, yuccas, agaves and heat-tolerant herbaceous plants selected for hot, sunny conditions. Inspired by principles of xeriscaping, the garden demonstrates how thoughtful plant selection and landscape design can create beautiful spaces that require relatively little supplemental irrigation once established.
“The Botanical Garden is a special part of City Park, and caring for it means continuing to nurture and enhance the spaces that make it such a unique experience for our community,” said CPC President and CEO Rebecca Dietz. “Our horticulture team put tremendous care and hard work into bringing this vision for the Sun Garden to life. We’re proud to celebrate their work and invite the community to experience the garden, learn something new and enjoy this beautiful space together.”
Creating those conditions in New Orleans required extensive preparation by the Botanical Garden’s horticulture team. Work began in May with the removal of much of the garden’s existing plant material, while preserving two large blue agaves incorporated into the new design. The team then excavated approximately three inches of soil and incorporated sand and pea gravel to improve drainage for plants that typically thrive in much drier environments. Large agaves, yuccas and prickly pear cacti established the structure of the garden, complemented by smaller succulents including ghost plant and ice plant. Rocks, changes in elevation and washed gravel complete the landscape.
The community event will give visitors a closer look at both the plants and the techniques behind the transformation. Botanical Garden staff will share information about the Sun Garden and offer practical tips for growing and caring for succulents and drought-tolerant plants at home.