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| The Native Plant Garden Tour sits in front of the White Sands visitor center. |
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| Native Plant Garden Tour map. Click for larger version. |
The short trail – just 150-200 feet tops – is a self-guided walking tour in front of the visitor center. It's best seen mid-April through late November, as desert plants are dormant during winter.
To reach the trail, from U.S. Hwy. 70 enter the park via Dune Drives. Turn right/northeast on the very next road. Park in the lot and head northwest toward the visitor center entrance.
The visitor center was constructed during the mid-1930s in Spanish pueblo-adobe (“Pueblo-Revival”) style using local materials. The center offers an excellent orientation film “A Land in Motion” about the national park. The 17-minute long film plays on the hour and half-hour.
At the visitor center information desk, you also can obtain a native plant garden guide for the walk.
White Sands sits at the northern end of the Chihuahuan desert. Plants growing there must be very durable because of the nutrient-poor soil and extreme temperature changes.
Start the walk by looking at the garden to right/east of visitor center door. Among the plants there are Apache plume, desert willow, Indian ricegrass, Colorado four o'clock, creosote bush, and to the right of White Sands sign, honey mesquite.
Of them, the Colorado four o’ clock blooms from spring through summer. With showy purple to magenta blossoms, its five-lobed, funnel-shaped flower can grow up to two-and-a-half inches wide. It is found all across the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
The garden across from the Colorado four o'clocks contains three interesting desert plants – the three-leaf sumac, Torrey's jointfir, and soapatree yucca.
For visitors to New Mexico, the soaptree yucca will be the most noticeable because it's the absolutely alien looking. A long stem rises from a squat set of draping leaves. Large, cream-colored flowers bloom on the stem in late April through May.
Directly across the visitor center door is ocotillo and Torrey's Yucca.
Some desert plants bloom only after monsoon rains, and such is the case with ocotillo. Long, spiny cane-line stems rise from the shrub’s short trunk. The stems can reach up to 20 feet high, as tall as a two-story building. When rain falls from March through June, dense clusters of red tubular flowers blossom from stems’ ends.
The garden along the path behind this garden and next to the parking lot includes several desert plants. From northeast to southwest are New Mexico agave, lechuguilla, cane cholla, hoary rosemary mint, fourwing saltbush, purple prickly pear cactus, and desert spoon (also known as sotol).
Purple prickly pear cactus is a Southwestern icon. A shrub, it spreads by growing pad-like segments that turn shades of pinkish-purple. From April through May, its blooms open midmorning, close at night, and never reopen. The flowers consist of yellow petals with its lower portions red, which form a brilliant red center.
The native garden lacks shade, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat. Sunburn can occur even after just a few minutes in the intense summer light.
