NORTHEAST VALLEY - A flurry of color returns to the Desert Botanical Garden March 11 after an unusually dry winter kept many plants from producing their vibrant flowers.

The Spring Butterfly Exhibit in the Marshall Butterfly Pavilion opens this weekend with hundreds of live North American butterflies on display in an oversized mesh tent.

Visitors can mingle with nearly 25 species as they walk through the tent and among plants conducive to the insects' survival.

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"It's so relaxing in there and it's such a different space from anywhere else in the garden," said Melanie Day, exhibitions coordinator for the Desert Botanical Garden.

The exhibit includes a hands-on learning center with magnified butterfly viewing stations and a planting display with tips on how to attract butterflies to a home garden.

The yellow-striped Zebra Longwing and the lime green-spotted Malachite are some of the most eye-catching, Day said.

Other varieties on display include Painted Ladies, Giant Swallowtails, Queens, Great Southern Whites, Julias and Zebra Swallowtails.

Tickets are $2 per person with paid admission to the botanical garden, southeast of McDowell Road and Galvin Parkway in Phoenix.

The exhibit, open seven days a week, runs through May 14.