Gardens, Scenery and Food of Arizona

September 3rd, 2019

Sun sets on the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. (Credit: Desert Botanical Garden)

   Just because a climate is hot and dry doesn’t mean its plants are boring.

   The amazing botanical world has managed to come up with a surprisingly diverse array of beautiful and sometimes curious plants that have adapted to arid environments.

   We’re going to have a closeup look at it all this December during a nine-day, garden-focused trip to Tucson, Phoenix, and Sedona, Arizona, custom-planned by Lowee’s Group Tours and me.

   We’re also going to spend a day at the Grand Canyon, see some of Arizona’s iconic scenery, sample some of the foodie-approved dishes of the Southwest, and do some touristy things, too, like visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taleisin West desert laboratory, Tucson’s unique Mini Time Museum of Miniatures, and a cowboy ranch (for a horse-drawn wagon ride and cowboy cookout).

   The trip runs Dec. 3-11, 2019, and costs $3,650 per person double, which includes round-trip airfare, hotels, on-tour transportation, admissions, guides, baggage-handling, and 17 meals.

   You’re invited! The full details and booking are available through the Lowee’s Group Tours website or by calling Lowee’s at 717-657-9658.

   We timed this trip so you can enjoy the warmth and gardens while things are likely turning cold and snowy in Harrisburg. You’ll still have two weeks to get ready for Christmas when you get back.

   Desert plants take on a lot more forms than just cactus and tumbleweed. Besides structural plants like succulent agaves, euphorbias, yucca, and all sorts of cactuses, hot/dry climates are home to many bloomers, too, like bird of paradise, honeysuckles, bougainvillea, ice plant, lantana (which we grow as an annual), and plenty more that most Easterners have never heard of.

A shot from the Tucson Botanical Garden. (Credit: Tucson Botanical Garden)

   We’ll see them at the main public gardens out that way, including the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in the Tucson Mountains (which also includes a zoo and natural-history museum), Tucson’s 49-acre Tohono Chul Park, and the botanic gardens in Tucson and Phoenix. We’re also going to do a plant-geared tour of the University of Arizona campus.

   The scenery offers plenty of natural beauty with canyons, rivers, and water-carved mountains of multi-colored rock. We’ll see that in several of the most stunning venues, including Saguaro National Park, Sabino Canyon, Red Rock State Park (with its famous and much-photographed Cathedral Rock), and Walnut Canyon National Monument.

Red Rock State Park (Credit: Red Rock State Park)

   Food-wise, we’ll have lunch one day at the home of the chimichanga, do a dine-around foodie tour in Tucson, and chow down on a cowboy cookout as the sun sets on the M Diamond Ranch.

   Besides the Taleisin West and Mini Time Machine Museum, we’ll round out the trip with a visit to a native-American mission (San Xavier), a bit of shopping time in Flagstaff, a whole day at the Grand Canyon, and if the weather cooperates, a trip up Mt. Lemmon to see space through the University of Arizona’s giant telescope there.

   Come on along… or hint to that special someone what a nice Christmas gift this trip would make!