Desert plants star at Yuma Conservation Garden

Duck pond at Yuma Conservation Garden

Vegetation from the Lower Sonora Desert fills 28 acres along one of Yuma, Arizona’s, major streets. The Yuma Conservation Garden also has a nice collection of antique farm machinery and a large pond filled with swimming ducks and geese.

The garden got its start in the 1950s, and was taken over by the Yuma, Laguna and Wellton-Mohawk Valley Natural Resource Conservation Districts in 1987. The garden’s mission is to encourage environmental education that involves protection of the area’s natural resources.

Dirt and gravel trails take visitors around the garden, which includes a variety of cactus from the U.S. and Mexican sides of the Sonora Desert. The list of cacti includes the saguaro, cholla, prickly pear and pine cone.

Though the garden is in an urban setting, visitors may see long-tailed lizards, rabbits, coyotes, roadrunners and night hawks. The garden also has a resident desert tortoise, the 75-pound Baloo.

Yuma Conservation Garden

The centerpiece of the garden, however, is the pond where visitors can sit on benches and watch a variety of geese and ducks swim by; waterfowl are a mixture of wild and domestic. Tall palm trees surround the pond, creating a relaxing view.

The garden has been designated an urban wildlife area by both the state Land, and Fish and Game departments.

As an educational center, the garden hosts upwards of 5,000 students every year. It is certified by the Arizona Department of Education for students in kindergarten through the 12^th grade.

The garden is located next to the Pima County Fairgrounds at 2520 E. 32^nd Street. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays November through April. Admission is free.

More photos of Yuma Conservation Garden can be seen on my Youtube channel, http://youtu.be/Pa8QqQDuXb4

Tohono Chul features Sonora Desert vegetation

A garden at Tohono Chul Park

Lush greenery isn’t something that is usually associated with southern Arizona, but it’s a term that comes easily to mind at the Tohono Chul botanical garden in west Tucson.

The park brings together the diversity of the Sonora Desert through vegetation, birds, butterflies, arts and education. Outdoor seating areas for classes, concerts and other programs are scattered throughout the 49-acre park. You’ll find bird sculptures sitting in trees and pottery pots arranged in fountains. And always there is the lush vegetation, from vine covered archways to meandering streams to a wide variety of cactus, including some kinds we’d not seen elsewhere in Arizona.

Most of the trails are paved, making this small corner of Tucson handicap-accessible. Benches are plentiful for visitors who just want to sit and enjoy nature, or rest their weary feet.

Wide paved trails accommodate wheelchairs

The land used to be occupied by prehistoric Native Americans. As you walk the trails, be on the lookout for a chunk of petrified wood, determined to be 750 million years old, and a large flat boulder bearing petro graphs. Ancient pottery shards have been found within the park’s boundaries.

The museum’s gift shop, which seems more like an art gallery, is located in an adobe hacienda. The idea for the park was conceived by later owners, Richard and Jean Wilson, who had been buying up snippets of land that were part of the original homestead. They decided to turn it into a park rather than let it be developed. The park was dedicated as a nature preserve in 1985.

Tohono Chul is located just off Ina Road at 7366 N. Paseo del Norte in Tucson. It is closed on major holidays but otherwise open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. There is an admission charge.

More photos of Tohono Cnul are available on my YouTube channel.

A walk through the desert southwest

The Sonora Desert

The Sonora Desert Museum

Visiting Tucson without going to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is like going to Yuma but not visiting the Territorial Museum or to China without visiting the Great Wall.  The Sonora Desert Museum is one of those must-sees, without which your trip to Tucson would be incomplete.

Located about 15 miles south and west of Tucson on a scenic winding road through the mountains, the museum is a wonderful introduction to the desert southwest. It’s a botanical garden, natural history museum and zoo, all rolled into one.

It has buildings that house special exhibits such as an aquarium, and reptile, cat and hummingbird houses. But it is the two-mile walk through the desert that will captivate you. The outdoor museum covers 21 acres, and is home to 250 animal species and 1,200 varieties of plants. The views across the valley to the mountains beyond are nothing short of spectacular.

 

Sonora cactus

The museum is considered an international role model for presenting and interpreting nature in realistic exhibits. It was founded in 1952.

The Sonora Desert stretches from southern California through southern Arizona and into Baja California, about 200,000 acres in all. Most of the desert lies in Mexico. The desert is surprisingly green in the Tucson area, possibly because of nightly rains in the summer.

The museum has a live mountain lion and bear behind barriers, but mostly any small wildlife you come across will be running free. Several species of lizards about as do butterflies in a special butterfly garden.  Summer visitors will want to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes, especially if they are stupid enough to go off the path, which is not allowed in the first place.

 

A path through desert greenery

The best way to see the museum is to walk at an easy pace. Summer visitors will want to carry bottled water with them. Don’t worry about running out if you drink too much. You can always refill the bottle with cold water at one of the numerous fountains located along the route. The museum also provides plenty of shaded seating areas where you can rest and enjoy the view.

The outdoor route is handicapped accessible, but be forewarned, most of the paths are dirt and gravel. Push wheelchairs are available on a first-come first serve basis; mobility scooters are available for rent.

Cacti grow tall in the desert

The museum is open 365 days a year. It is located at 2021 N. Kinney Road in Tucson. The easiest way to get there is to take the Speedway exit off Interstate 10 and follow the signs through the mountains.

Admission was approximately $20 per adult in 2014. Visitors who have a Tucson Visitor Center attractions passport, which cost $18 in 2014 and is good for dozens of attractions in the Tucson area, can get one free admission with one paid admission.