A couple walked along along a pathway of lights as they entered Tohono Chul Park during the botanical garden’s Holiday Nights event in 2011.
Lunch and a stroll at Tohono Chul Park
As butterflies flit among the flowering plants along Tohono Chul’s walking paths, one almost forgets how unforgiving the desert can be. And that’s partly why Star readers like to visit the 49-acre park, listed by National Geographic as one of the nation’s top “secret gardens.”
Having lunch or a prickly pear lemonade brought to you in a shady spot at the Garden Bistro is a key part of part of this civilized experience, which local resident George Haber calls “a must-do for Tucsonans and visitors alike!”
The park’s botanical gardens also lend inspiration to visitors looking to get creative with their own yards, and a retail nursery with arid-adapted plants grown specifically for Tucson lets them take some of the beauty home, where an Ageratum corybosum, a purple-bloomed butterfly magnet, might forever commemorate that perfect afternoon.
