Each tour includes round-trip bus transportation from La Paloma and the tour location. CSSA members can sign up through the registration link, but space is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot early.
New this year – to avoid the heat, field trips will be in the mornings and presentations during the afternoons.
PRE-TRIP Phoenix-Area Botanical Gardens
Wednesday, May 19th, 2027
NOTE – The pre-trip will take place on Wednesday, May 19th, the convention arrival day. If you’d like to participate in this activity, you may want to plan to check-in to the hotel on Tuesday, May 18th, or you will need to arrive at the hotel on Wednesday, May 19th, before 6:30am. The discounted rate for the hotel for the evening of Tuesday, May 18th, may be available. If you wish to check-in a day early and attend this trip, please contact our Business Office.
During this all day exploration you will visit two of Arizona’s premier desert gardens. Ninety minutes by chartered bus from Tucson is the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum in Superior, AZ. The arboretum has 372 acres of collections of desert plants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Madagascar, India, China, Japan, Israel, South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Arabian Peninsula. It is the oldest and largest botanical garden in AZ. There are scenic hiking trails. For those with mobility issues, you can reserve a 5-person golf cart tour ahead of time for $20.
After your visit at Boyce-Thompson, you will visit Desert Botanical Gardens (DBG) located in Phoenix, AZ. Have lunch on your own at the Quail House Coffee and Creamery, offering grab-and-go lunch and gelato, and you will have two hours to explore the gardens. With 55,000 plants, visitors may stroll through five thematic trails to explore many types of desert adapted cacti, succulents, wildflowers, and more. DBG also has world-class art exhibits throughout. You’re fortunate to be visiting at a time when they will have a special immersive exhibition, Super Bloom, featuring walk-through colored-glass houses and larger-than-life botanical illustrations that surround visitors with giant desert flowers, brilliant color and breathtaking artistry.
After your visit, you’ll board the bus for a 2-hour comfortable ride back to Tucson arriving back at La Paloma Resort by 5:00 PM.
Wear walking or hiking shoes, and bring your hat, a snack, water bottle, and sunscreen. Water is available throughout the parks. Lunch is on your own at the Desert Botanical Gardens.
This adventure is $160 per person and includes round trip bus travel, from La Paloma to both destinations, and admission to both venues.
Pima Prickly Park and Saguaro National Park – West
Friday, May 21, 7:15am to 11:30am
Pima Prickly Park
Pima Prickly Park is an 8-acre public park maintained by Pima County in partnership with Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society. The park is easily walkable with wide pathways that are ADA compliant. It features 11 gardens and a beautiful labyrinth, all showcasing native and non-native plants that will thrive in the Tucson climate. Many of the plants have been rescued from development destruction by the TCSS Native and Urban Rescue Programs.
Saguaro National Park West
A 30-minute bus ride from Pima Prickly Park, Saguaro National Park West focuses on Sonoran Desert landscapes, fauna, and flora, including saguaro cacti in a 92,000-acre preserve divided in two regions. You will be visiting the western region at a time to observe the saguaros in bloom and may even spot some fruit on saguaros that bloomed early. You will have time to learn about the park at the Red Hills Visitor Center as well as peruse the gift shop.
For this trip you’ll be on smaller buses to take you to the interior of the park where you’ll be able to discover ancient petroglyphs on an optional short hike featuring the breathtaking views of the saguaros across the landscape.
Wear hiking shoes, and bring a small snack, your hat, water bottle, and sunscreen. We’ll provide ice cold filtered water for you to refill your bottles. Restrooms are available at both parks.
This is $50 per person.
North Loop Nursery Tours and Pima Prickly Park
Friday, May 21, 7:15am to 11:30am
This tour features visits to two local nurseries where you will be able to walk around, view the plants, and purchase items to take home, followed by a stop at Pima Prickly Park.
Tucson Cactus & Koi
Tucson Cactus & Koi, are passionate about providing their customers with an incredible shopping experience, from start to finish. As a family owned and operated small business, they take pride in offering an unbelievable variety of cacti and succulents, drought hardy trees and shrubs, low light houseplants and so much more. Their competitive pricing, extensive selection of unique and healthy plants, from landscape quality to collector cactus and mature specimen pieces, thoughtfully displayed throughout three acres, makes them the best nursery in town. Don’t miss their Koi Shop, offering a large selection of colorful koi fish & hardy water plants; or ask their team how they can help conceptualize, build or remodel an existing pond.
Thank you to Tucson Cactus & Koi for being a Prickly Pear Sponsor of the convention.
Bach’s Greenhouse Cactus Nursery
Beautify your home’s landscape with beautiful plants and cacti from Bach’s Greenhouse Cactus Nursery. Their cactus nursery has been a family-owned company for over 40 years. They are proud to offer the best selection of Native Cacti to customers in Pima County, Arizona, and surrounding areas. From beautiful pieces of petrified wood to pots to a wide variety of cacti, their plants and products make the perfect choice for your home, business, or even gifts.
Pima Prickly Park
Pima Prickly Park is an 8-acre public park maintained by Pima County in partnership with Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society. The park is easily walkable with wide pathways that are ADA compliant. It features 11 gardens and a beautiful labyrinth, all showcasing native and non-native plants that will thrive in the Tucson climate. Many of the plants have been rescued from development destruction by the TCSS Native and Urban Rescue Programs.
Wear walking shoes, and bring a snack, your hat, water bottle, and sunscreen. There will be ice cold filtered water provided for you to refill your water bottle.
$35 per person
East Loop Nursery Tours
Saturday, May 22, 7:30am to 11:30am
This tour features visits to two local nurseries where you will be able to walk around, view the plants, and purchase items to take home.
B&B Cactus Farm
B&B Cactus Farm is an established cactus nursery in the Tucson, Arizona area that specializes in Cacti and Succulents of all types. They are located on the far East side of Tucson, a mile and a half East of Houghton Rd., on Speedway Blvd. They have been in business over 30 years and their friendly and knowledgeable staff are always eager to answer your “cacti” questions.
Come out and browse their 2 acres, with many greenhouses and outside areas filled with cacti and succulents of all types, including many cold hardy species. They also have a great collection of pottery for sale, in many shapes, sizes and colors. You can also enjoy a relaxing walk through our beautifully landscaped gardens.
Thank you to B&B Cactus Farm for being a Saguaro Sponsor of the convention.
Plants for the Southwest
Plants for the Southwest and Living Stones Nursery are one and the same. Their facilities consist of nine greenhouses, various shade-houses, and outside growing areas, each of a different configuration, totaling about 17,000 sq. ft. They specialize in succulent plants and cacti from around the world, but they also grow some of the interesting and uncommon desert shrubs, wildflowers, and trees, mainly from the region here in the southwest. All of the plants that they offer for sale are nursery propagated plants. Nearly all the plants that they were grown from seed. For a few species, they root cuttings and for a very few, they buy seedlings from other growers.
Wear walking shoes, and bring a snack, your hat, water bottle, and sunscreen. There will be ice cold filtered water provided for you to refill your water bottle.
$35 per person
Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum Tour
Saturday, May 22, 7:30am to 12:30am
This tour takes you to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. The Desert Museum is a fusion experience: zoo, botanical garden, art gallery and classes, natural history museum, and aquarium. Their mission is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the Sonoran Desert.
Perched on the side of saguaro-studded hills and overlooking miles of mountains and valleys amidst the ancestral homelands of the Tohono O’odham and the multi-millennial presence of the Pasqua Yaqui, there’s no place quite like the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum anywhere in the world. Home to over 230 animal species and 1,200 varieties of plants, a range of botanical gardens, four aviaries, an aquarium, and an art gallery, the Museum offers a wide range of fun and fascinating encounters with the wildlife, vegetation, natural history, cultures, art, and beauty of the Sonoran Desert. Not surprisingly, the Desert Museum ranks among the top museums in the U.S.
Wear walking shoes, and bring your hat, water bottle, and sunscreen. On the bus, there will be ice cold filtered water provided for you to refill your water bottle.
$50 per person
Southwest Loop Nursery Tour
Sunday, May 22, 7:15am to 11:30am
This tour takes you to two exceptional cactus and succulent nurseries located on the Southwest side of Tucson.
Prickly Prospects Cactus Nursery
Founded by Dr. Michiel “Mich” Pillet in 2021, Prickly Prospects Cactus Nursery is focused on the conservation of cacti and other succulent plants through ex situ cultivation. This means a strong focus on species rarely seen in cultivation, and an emphasis on accurate record keeping. Selling artificially propagated threatened plants helps to discourage wild collection and ensures the continued existence of rare species and populations. Prickly Prospects has supplied plants for several botanical gardens, as well as research projects ranging from genetic studies to AI-based species identification, and has introduced many threatened species into cultivation. Mich wants you to know, “he is chronically behind on listing species for sale online and you’re welcome to inquire in advance to see if your wishlist plants are available.”
Arid Lands Greenhouses
Arid Lands Greenhouses is a succulent plant and cactus nursery in Tucson, Arizona, USA, that sells to both retail and wholesale customers. Owners Bob Webb and Toni Yocum have grown succulent plants for more than 35 years, many of which were obtained from Arid Lands Greenhouses before they bought it in 2006. They have traveled extensively in Africa and Arabia, looking for and photographing succulent plants. They have been to Oman, Yemen, Socotra, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. They live in the Sonoran Desert, and Toni is that rare Tucson native.
Wear walking shoes, and bring a snack, your hat, water bottle, and sunscreen. There will be ice cold filtered water provided for you to refill your water bottle.
$35 per person
Plants in Habitat Hiking Tour
Sunday, May 23, 7:00am to 11:30am
Join us for an early morning hike in the beautiful saguaro habitat of the Tucson Mountains. These are low “mountains” at the west end of Tucson. This hike will be guided by local experts who will point out native plants, geography, and animals along the way. You will park near a hotel that has bathrooms and a Starbucks.
Wear hiking shoes, and bring a snack, your hat, water bottle, and sunscreen. There will be ice cold filtered water provided for you to refill your water bottle on the bus.
$35 per person
Field trips are subject to change.
CSSA Members – Click below to register for the convention and field trips.