San Antonio Botanical Center has in the past been a great reason to go to San Antonio on Sunday and eat brunch at La Mansion and then spend the afternoon at SAB. Since the new Carriage House addition and the new director I haven’t been so impressed with the direction the center is headed. It seems there has been this great interest in bedding plants and making silly shapes with mass plantings. SAB has a lot of room to grow and cultivate great botany for the region it inhabits, but it seems it has stalled out from a couple years ago. I hope they go back to the old entrance it is so much friendlier and cooler. I was told the donator demanded the entrance be the Carriage House with some free pavement from some road contractors and a huge swathe of concrete voila a disaster was created. The loss of Dr. Moi the Chinese plantsmith has been missed Dr.. Moi was creating new plant selections and just basic interest in botany which hasn’t been replaced. I have never been a fan of the Buckminster style Lucile Halsell Conservatory. The conservatory consists of The Dessert Pavilion, Tropical Forest Room, Palm House, Fern Grotto, and the Exhibition Room. It seems like a lot of energy and money with little return. They easily could have grown palms and cycads outside that where adapted for this region, which would have been more educational and been way more interesting. I have more cactus and succulents in my backyard than SAB has the Dessert Pavilion. Pavillion? I recall recently, I think it was last year when they added some new plants to the collection. They literally went to a big whole sale grower in California and got a collection of plants that are almost all available at Home Depot (with some exception). I know for a fact that they talked to a professional botanical expert who recommended some very interesting plants, but which were dismissed for a hodge podge of aloes and gasteria. What is interesting is that many gasteria can be grown outside and do not need to be in an enclosed conservatory. Growing these plants outside now that’s education, which is in the mission statement. There was no purpose The jungle feature could easily have been done as a Mexican grotto from Tamaulipas with all kinds of exotic plants and it could have been done for a fraction of the cost. What SAB has done is kind of a trend in botanical centers and that is spend a ratio of 20 to one on hardscape and lavish buildings and then pinch pennies on plants. The Wildflower Research Center is a great example of spending millions on buildings and thousands on plants when it was first begun.
So lets look at some success of SAB and some of the best features of the garden. The inner court yard of the Conservatory is actually quite nice. The ponds are very cool with a great selection of water lillies, iris, palms and tropical specimen trees. They have a nice stand of Freesia Laxa and really just a nice selection of tropical plants that makes for a great garden experience.
The Southwest Texas Dry land garden is very nice and gives feeling of being in south Texas and the acacia collection is very good. The East Texas Pineywoods Garden with the log cabins and the beautiful lake is also a winner. They have some very cool black-belly ducks, wood ducks, mallards and green herons. they have an impressive collection of some rare trees and shrubs like Styrax Platanafolia. Let me not forget the Magnolia Ashei that they have at the front of the garden which is quite a specimen. The connection of all these different regions tied together makes for a very pleasant walk through the 33 acres. I find that these areas are where people gravitate to because they are filled with a sense of nature, simplicity, harmony and just a well planned experience. The only thing I recommend is they keep adding to their collection of plants for all these regions, like more varieties of Manfreda for the drylands and more varieties Magnolias for East Texas. The Berkley Botanical seems like they must have at least 30 varieties of Magnolias from the Americas and Asia. I would like to see a greater collection of Salvias. Anyway you get the idea. The Formal and Display Gardens are actually quite nice especially the Religious Garden, which is a very nice garden room that extends into the Hill Country Garden and the Rose Garden. I am never a fan of Rose Gardens where the roses are grown like animals in a zoo. I want the roses mixed with other plant and grown more naturally not in square boxes with brick borders in rectilinear patterns. I never liked this look even in India. The Display gardens across the way with poppies in the spring and giant specimen Erythrina Bidwillii, Bauhinias, perennials too many to mention. They have a silver version of Sophora Arizonica. The Kumamota Japanese garden is truly one of the most unique Japanese gardens in the United States. It is a style that I have never seen anywhere else (two thumbs up). SAB is located on a great piece of land with many interesting features and is truly a great place to visit, however for this institution to continue down the path of greatness it needs to get back on track with its interest in botany and not wedding planning.

May 18, 2003

I have recently been informed that SABOT is thinking about removing the orchid house and replacing it with a butterfly house. We at plantx think this is a real bad idea considering many plants have established themselves very nicely. We are also opposed to this butterfly house push all over the country. We are going to express our view on how a real butterfly house should created and maintained. So thumbs down on the butterfly house thumbs up on keeping the orchid display.