Unspecified/General

On the north-eastern edge of central San Antonio just east of the Sunken Garden Theater and the Brackenridge Park, the San Antonio Botanical Garden is one of the most beautifully landscaped public gardens in the southern United States. The thirty-eight-acre garden opened in May 1980 after more than a decade of fundraising and planning by the San Antonio Botanical Society and the city's Parks Department, replacing what had been disused dairy farmland on the edge of the Sunken Garden complex. The garden is organised into more than twenty distinct themed plant displays, with a particular emphasis on plants native to the Texas Hill Country and the surrounding eco-regions. The Texas Native Trail, a 2.5-mile interpretive walk through several recreated Texas ecosystems, takes visitors through the East Texas Pineywoods, the Hill Country savannah and the South Texas brushland, each section planted with characteristic species of its region and threaded with interpretive signage covering the natural history of each ecosystem. The garden's most architecturally striking feature is the 90,000-square-foot Lucile Halsell Conservatory, a complex of five glass-and-steel exhibit halls designed by the celebrated Argentine-American architect Emilio Ambasz. The conservatory complex is partially sunken into the landscape with its glass roofs rising in irregular angular shapes above ground, evoking ancient Mexican pyramid stepped forms. Each of the five halls recreates a distinct climate including a tropical rainforest, a desert pavilion focusing on succulents from around the world, a fern-and-orchid pavilion, an alpine pavilion and a Texas Native Garden pavilion focusing on rare endemic species. Other major garden areas include the celebrated 2.5-acre Family Adventure Garden, opened in 2017 with extensive interactive water play areas, climbing structures and themed natural-history play stations designed to introduce children to gardening and natural-history concepts; the Rose Garden with more than 400 individual rose varieties; the Sensory Garden focused on touch, smell and sound; and the Watersaver Garden focused on drought-tolerant landscape design. Modestly priced, with seasonal evening events and a popular outdoor concert series each summer.

Type: Outdoors

Address: 555 Funston Place, San Antonio, TX, United States

Telephone: 210-536-1400

Website: sabot.org

Opening Date: 03/05/1980