I've been to the Desert Botanical Garden twice. Both times was pretty fun.
The first time was during the day, while the second time was at night. The night event was pretty cool. We came here for the night time light show. The garden wasn't as packed as I thought it would be so that was good. Although not all the areas of the garden was lit up so it was a little hard navigating where to go. It would probably be harder if you'd never been here before.
But even if you're at the garden in the daytime it's still a little hard to figure out where you're going. The pathways just go off in every which way. It's usually not a problem though since you can't really get lost here.
If you go here during the weekend, you'll run into a few cool photographers here. One of the guys Mike is always there and he takes great photos! And he seems to know exactly where to go to find all the hummingbirds. At least, the hummingbirds in the gardens know him and they come out when he whistles at them.
This is a great little spot in Phoenix. And they give military discounts.