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TUCSON - Pima Prickly Park, a nine-acre desert public park to highlight opuntias (prickly pear and cholla) and other genera, will be open from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., Sat., Sept. 22 at 3500 W. Orange Grove Rd., near I-10.

There will be festivities to include refreshments and music as well as more than 15 educational exhibits. Displays inside and outside the Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation buildings will include exhibits such about the desert, desert plants and desert animals.

It will be open from sunrise to sunset for the enjoyment of all with trails, covered ramadas and benches to enjoy the view. A highlight of the park is Saguarohenge, designed in the park as a sacred place to celebrate the ancient relationships between people and the Sonoran Desert through a pathway experience.

An entrance garden to the park will be the focal point, which will be a multi-year undertaking. In time, mature plantings of the native Palo Verde tree with green bark and yellow blooms, native purple Santa Rita Prickly Pear cactus with yellow flowers, and cholla with red and many other flower colors will yield a sensational splash of color. An Agave Garden is also planned across from Saguarohenge. Educational facilities, demonstration, research, and a Hummingbird garden are planned.

The park is the dream of the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society, in a collaborative effort, it with Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation, and other community organizations.

Click here for more information on the Tucson Cactus & Succulent Society.