Desert Blooms
Every spring the prickly stuff turns pretty. Thousands of flowers open across the thirteen acres, some of them for a single day, and no two weekends look the same. So we made a ticket that lets you keep coming back.
Something new opens almost every day in spring, and plenty of flowers only last a day or two.
One ticket, all of spring
Here is the trouble with a single visit. You get whatever happens to be open that afternoon. Two weeks later it is a completely different show and you have missed it. Some of the big trichocereus flowers open at dusk and are done by the next afternoon. So add five dollars to your garden entry and the season is yours. Come back as many times as you like, right through to the end of November.
What’s flowering when
A rough guide, because nothing out here reads a calendar. For the latest, check the note up top or the board at reception.
The little ones go first. Mammillaria ring themselves in tiny pink crowns, the echinopsis buds start fattening up, and the garden smells like something is about to happen.
Our favourite fortnight of the year. Echinopsis hybrids open in hot pink, cream and coral, dozens at a time, and the trails turn into one long colour chart.
The prickly pears take over in yellow and magenta, and the tall fellas in the Valley of the Giants flower up top. The tail end of the show, and warming up by then.
What a spring visit looks like
How to catch the good stuff
We chalk up what is open and where each morning. Grab the guidebook while you are there.
Mornings are cooler for walking, but the last hour of sun is when the petals really glow.
We post the showstoppers the day they open on Instagram, so you know when to make the drive.
A fortnight apart is a different garden. With the Bloom Pass, your return visits are covered.
Bloom Pass questions
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Then you are already sorted. Your Annual Pass covers every visit for 12 months, blooms included.
Usually October into early November. Warm weather brings it forward, a cool wet spring pushes it back. Watch our socials and pick your moment.
The trails get a bit soft in the wet, but that is the beauty of a pass. Duck into the taqueria for a margarita and come back another day.
While you’re here
A little piece of Mexico on the Murray. Come have some fun.
Sign up for what’s blooming and what’s on.