Mission Garden — Attraction in Tucson

This is a true gem sitting at the base of A-Mountain!!! I'm in town visiting (used to live in Tucson ages ago), and went to Mission Garden with my nephew (20 yr old). If you are a gardening or history nerd, and like to read, be prepared to spend hours! 😊😊 or make frequent visits - it's FREE!!! There are pamphlet boxes at each garden space, with tons of laminated pages of information about each space, to read. There is a "Bookworm" path for kids, with "mail boxes" with books and activities at each garden. Since it is winter, there wasn't a lot growing in some of the gardens, but the orange trees were heavy with fruit, and there were plenty of other native plants to enjoy and learn about. We spoke with two lovely women who worked/volunteered there. Very friendly, informative, and eager to share their enthusiasm for this special place. Mission Garden has plants for sale near the entrance and said they have a presence at a nearby farmer's market. There is a "taste of the garden" happening the first Friday/Saturday of the month, and I encouraged my nephew to bring his mother. As a visitor, I encourage Tucsonians to support, and to help expand this space! It is truly unique, educational, and a...

Small and a little rumpled but in a very inviting way, Mission Garden is a living agricultural museum. The concept is fascinating. How did people survive in this climate? How did they grow their food, and what did they grow? There are themed walks and tours and classes, if you time your visit right. And you can support the project by plunking some cash in the donation box, or picking up some things in the small gift shop. There you find a smartly curated collection of things—books and seeds, produce and preserves made with items from the garden, and even native beans and wheat berries from the oldest variety in North America, which was all but obliterated in the 1940s.

It’s located at the base of Sentinel Peak (also called A” Mountain) and at the historic epicenter of what became Tucson. And really, it’s fascinating and inspiring to see so many foods growing in a place that seems otherwise inhospitable. Definitely...

I emailed Mission Garden to see if I could bring my Preschoolers in for a little field trip. The friendly staff at Mission Garden got back to me right away and we were able to schedule a tour for that same week. Camilla, led a tour based on what our needs were, and what the students had been working on during the week. She led a wonderful sensory tour where the kids could taste and smell things from the garden. My Preschoolers loved our garden visit. They enjoyed learning about the different seeds, looking for plants of the foods they like to eat, playing in the youth garden, and of course visiting the chickens. Camilla did an excellent job of keeping the kids engaged throughout our visit. We had a wonderful time. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at Mission Garden, we absolutely...