The Garden District in Tucson in Pima County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Who Lived Here?

Historical Gardens

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, June 6, 2015

1. Who Lived Here? Marker

Inscription. Like many Tucsonans in the 1920s, Bernice Walkley and Rutger Porter were transplanted easterners – she from Connecticut and he from New York. Rutger met Bernice while doing landscape work for her father in Tucson.

In 1929 Rutger bought the small adobe house that is now the TBG Gift Shop. Two years later he married Bernice. Together, while raising three girls, they enlarged the house and planted the garden immediately surrounding it.

In the 30s the Porters operated Desert Gardens Nursery on this site. Rutger’s love of desert plants earned him the nickname “Kactus Kid.” He died in 1958. Bernice opened the house and gardens to clubs and visitors, often serving tea in the afternoon. She occupied the east side of her home until her death in 1983.
Photo captions:
Original adobe house in 1930s, view from Alvernon Way
Rutger Porter
Rutger, Bernice and their three girls

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Agriculture • Horticulture & Forestry. A significant historical year for this entry is 1929.

Location. 32° 14.901′ N, 110° 54.575′ W. Marker is in Tucson, Arizona, in Pima

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County. It is in The Garden District. It is on North Alvernon Way. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2150 N Alvernon Way, Tucson AZ 85712, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Arizona’s Sky Islands,

in the Sonoran Desert,

and in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.

It is also in the American Southwest.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also the Gadsden Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Does This Garden Seem Lush and Cool? (here, next to this marker); Cattle Tank (within shouting distance of this marker); The Settlers of Binghampton, Arizona (approx. 1½ miles away); Villa Catalina (approx. 1.8 miles away); Chapel of San Pedro at Fort Lowell (approx. 1.9 miles away); El Conquistador Water Tower (approx. 2 miles away); Fort Lowell (approx. 2.2 miles away); Officers' Quarters (approx. 2.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Tucson.

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, June 6, 2015

2. Who Lived Here? Marker

Porter House, now Tucson Botanical Garden gift shop image. Click for full size.

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, June 6, 2015

3. Porter House, now Tucson Botanical Garden gift shop

View from the marker.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on June 7, 2015, by J. Makali Bruton of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 1,108 times since then and 52 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on June 7, 2015, by J. Makali Bruton of Washington, District of Columbia. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.