At the San Antonio Botanical Gardens & Lucile Halsell Conservatory, you'll do more than simply look at flowers, you'll be introduced to a whole new world of color, magic, and majesty!
You'll explore formal and display gardens, learn about the importance of preserving native plants and flowers, and enjoy the presence of more exotic species like carnivorous plants, tropical fruits, cacti, and rare aquatic plants. Special features include the Garden for the Blind, a special sensory garden where sight is not as important as touch as smell, where guests can feel and smell their way through the garden, the Kumamoto En Garden, a gift from Japan filled not only with Japanese plants and shrubbery, but with structures, symbolic features, and religious statues, and the Shade Garden—great for a hot, Texan, summer day! Kids will love gardening in the Children's Vegetable Garden and will love the Garden's offerings in summer and spring camps, as well as regular activities and projects. There's also a log cabin, an Old Fashioned Garden, and a lookout tower that will give curious kids an opportunity to explore, question their surroundings, and have fun!
Perhaps the main highlight of the San Antonio Botanical Gardens is the Lucile Halsell Conservatory. Here you'll find five greenhouses that simulate different climates, from the desert region to the equatorial rainforest. There's even a tropical lagoon and a display case filled with orchids—paradise!
A day of smelling sweet flowers is sure to trigger those taste buds, so stop by the Carriage House Bistro for snack or a meal, and a great opportunity to rest those tired feet! Don't forget to visit the gift shop on your way out! You're going to have a great time exploring the sensory world of flowers and plants at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens & Lucile Halsell Conservatory!
Reacquaint yourself with older flower varieties in the Old Fashioned Garden. Savor sweet fragrances in the Rose Garden. Engage your senses of touch and smell in the Sensory Garden (Garden for the Blind). Admire the unique Kumamoto En garden, a gift from our Sister City of Kumamoto, Japan, with its finely crafted structures and many symbolic features. Experience the beauty of the Sacred Garden, Shade Garden, Gertie's Garden and other garden displays. Learn from the testing and evaluations being conducted in the Watersaver Lane and Ornamental Grass Garden.
Designed by Emilio Ambasz, the Lucile Halsell Conservatory opened to the public on February 29, 1988. Plants from desert regions to equatorial rainforests are housed in these individual glass buildings tucked into the earth. These buildings surround a sunken courtyard and tropical lagoon filled with aquatic plants. Specialty collections include epiphytic plants display, desert cacti and succulents, equatorial tropicals, palms and cycads, tropical fruits, ferns and aroids, insectivores, and aquatic plants. Each group is housed in its own climate-controlled environment. These environments range from the 65-foot tall fog-enshrouded forest of palms to the glass display case filled with orchids.
The Native Texas Trail is a unique aspect of the San Antonio Botanical Garden. This area consists of plant communities characteristic of the Hill Country (Edwards Plateau), East Texas Piney Woods, and South Texas. These three distinctive and diverse ecological regions of Texas vary in soil, plant life, topography, and weather. The authentic botanical setting is enhanced by several early Texas houses, which have been reconstructed on the site to help illustrate and interpret the regional