Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin is owned by the city and offers 31 acres of gardens, such as a cactus and succulent garden, an herb and fragrance garden, and a butterfly trail and garden. There are two however, that are distinctively unique.
One of the most famous gardens is the Hartman Prehistoric Garden, established in 1992 in order to preserve tracks found in the park made by dinosaurs and an ancient giant turtle. The park features plants that existed in abundance during the time of the dinosaurs.
Another featured garden is the Isamu Taniguchi Oriental Garden, which overlooks Austin. It was built in 1969. Isamu Taniguchi and his family emigrated from Japan and came to the U.S. in 1915, and were interned during World War II in relocation camps for the Japanese. He remained in Texas after the war and for the rest of his life. After he retired, in 1967, he offered to build a garden as a gift to the city of Austin as a way of saying "thank you" for his sons' education at the University of Texas in Austin. Working with donated plants from local nurseries, Taniguchi worked over a period of 18 months with only one assistant at a time, upon land given to him by the city, to complete his gift. In those 18 months, he managed to transform three acres of rocky hillside into a sensuous Japanese garden with koi ponds and even a teahouse.
This uniquely Austin collaboration of the City of Austin's Parks and Recreation Department and the Austin Area Garden Council features a number of different gardens, including the two newest: the Hartman Prehistoric Garden, installed in the area where dinosaur tracks were found in 1992, and the Green Garden, with areas planted by different local designers with native and well-adapted plants that thrive in Austin's challenging soils and climate. The ADA Trail of Passages meanders back and forth through beds of both native and introduced plantings, leading to the Rose garden. The Taniguchi Japanese Garden is a unique component of the botanical garden.