Red Hills Desert Garden in St. George, Utah is not to be missed on a trip to the Greater Zion area. The 4.5 acre desert garden highlights the natural beauty that this area has to offer. Filled with all sorts of cacti, herbs, desert flowers, natural rock formations, and even fossilized tracks, the Red Hills Desert Garden is the perfect spot for a picnic or leisurely stroll. I visited Red Hill Desert Garden on a girls trip to The Inn at Entrada with my friend Morgan and we had the best morning exploring every nook and cranny!

Located conveniently next to Pioneer Park, admission to the botanical garden is free and they even allow dogs! Red Hills Desert Garden is home to more than 5,000 water-efficient plants and uses about five million gallons of water less per year than similarly sized turf land, saving enough water to support fifty average American homes per year.

Red Hills Desert Garden can easily be enjoyed by all ages and fitness levels and has beautiful views of the cities and red vermillion cliffs. The garden has one main trail that loops around the garden with meandering offshoot trails all around. It’s fairly flat so if you’re looking for a low-impact way to enjoy nature, Red Hills Desert Garden is it!

One of the most exciting parts of the garden is its prehistoric tracks! On the back side of the main loop are dinosaur tracks made by Megapnosaurus, Dilophosaurus, and Scutellosaurus approximately 200 millions years ago. The fossilized tracks were made when the prehistoric beasts were swimming in shallow streams. I’ve never talked about this on The Rose Table before, but I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a little girl so I absolutely flipped out when we saw the sign for the dinosaur tracks!

Do not miss the steps leading down near the entrance of Red Hills Desert. We were about to leave when I noticed the steps and we were blown away by what we found: a gorgeous water feature and a stunning replica slot canyon. Kudos to the folks who designed this part of the garden. I wish I could hike Zion or Snow Canyon but with my bad leg, hiking inclines is difficult for me. Thanks to this replica canyon, I felt like I got the true Greater Zion experience without agitating my leg.

Red Hills Desert Garden is open daily from 6 am to 10 pm. Be sure to tag @therosetable in photos if you visit! I hope you love frolicking around the garden as much as we did. Thank you, Saint George, for this lovely outdoor experience!

Red Hills Desert Garden was featured in the St. George episode of The Rose Table! Watch it here:

 

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Happy adventuring,

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