Chihuahuan Desert Botanical Gardens

Located on the UTEP campus, in a circular path around the museum, this botanical garden is clearly labeled and has many species of local plants. Volunteers shared with us that they intentionally overwinter plants with "debris" to protect insects and eggs during the colder months. Even in early February, several plants were blooming. Parking is easy to locate, next to the gardens.

Garden Footprint Located on the UTEP campus, this small botanical garden features a small sampling of plants that reside in the Chihuahuan Desert. The Good:*Free to visit and open daily from dawn to dusk.*Free parking (look for the sign on the wall ifo the "Prayer Wheel")*Area is well talked care of, and they do have a fairly large selection of plants given the small space. *Older lady who was maintaining the garden was very nice and welcoming. The Meh:*Very small garden and can be seen in less than 30 minutes*If the museum and school aren't open (like during the holidays), there are no restrooms available.The Ugly:*We arrived just a few days after a terrible freeze hit the country, so lots of the plants that should've been blooming weren't. TLDR: Nice garden to visit if you happen to be on the campus or visiting the Centennial Museum, but otherwise, it's not really worth seeking out and making a special trip for.

We decided to check out the Chihuahuan Desesrt Botanical Gardens after visiting the nearby museum on UTEP's campus. Unfortunately, it's less of a garden and more of a sidewalk around a building with some dead plants? Not much to see at all.

If you're trying to see a garden that shows off native flora of El Paso, Las Cruces and the Chihuahuan desert this is the place

I wouldn't so much call this a Botanical Garden as just a nice garden surrounding a college building. It really isn't much more than a walkway going around the museum building. If you are on campus, it is a lovely little walk. They do have benches along the way in some pretty spots for sitting. They do have lots of native desert plants (though very poorly labeled, almost no plants had a label).I would NOT go here just for the garden. If you want to see the campus, the garden, and visit the museum, then it is worth a visit - but don't go just to see the garden. It was not worth it.By the way, you have to park in their small lot, go up the elevator to floor 2 and around the corner to suite 205 to get a parking pass, and then go back down to your car to put the pass in the dashboard.