The Detours series celebrates lesser-known locales worth visiting across the state.

If you think deserts are barren, beige, and bland, then you haven’t walked the vibrant trails at the best botanical garden in West Texas (and arguably one of the best in the state). The 507-acre Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, four miles southeast of Fort Davis, teems with life. Red flowers wave in the breeze atop spindly ocotillo branches, and in the evenings javelinas trot through the tall grass, munching on hot pink prickly pear fruit. If you sit in one of the rocking chairs on the visitors center’s front porch after your hike, there’s a decent chance a black-chinned hummingbird will zip by directly in front of your face. Founded fifty years ago, the nonprofit nature center is open daily and features gardens, five miles of trails (including the vibrant Outside Loop), a birdwatching blind, and one of the world’s largest Chihuahuan Desert cactus and succulent collections, with more than two hundred prickly kinds.

chihuahuan desert nature center
The entrance to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz
chihuahuan desert nature center
The Maxie Templeton Cactus Museum Collection boasts more than two hundred species, subspecies, and varieties of cacti and succulents.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz
chihuahuan desert nature center
Prickly pear fruit is a snack for local fauna, such as javelinas and coyotes.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz
chihuahuan desert nature center
The shady front porch at the visitors center offers respite and rocking chairs. Exhibits and a gift shop are inside.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz
chihuahuan desert nature center
Hiking on the Outside Loop trail.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz
chihuahuan desert nature center
Inside the Maxie Templeton Cactus Museum.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz
chihuahuan desert nature center
A panoramic view from Clayton’s Overlook on the Outside Loop.
Photograph by JoMando Cruz

An abbreviated version of this article originally appeared in the October 2023 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “The Impossible Garden.” Subscribe today.