Lucille Halsell Conservatory Highlight of San Antonio Botanical Garden

If you're a nature lover, visit the fantastic San Antonio Botanical Garden. But be prepared to walk further than usual - the 24-year-old living museum of plant life is spread over 33 acres.

It features traditional formal gardens, native Texas flora and tropical vegetation. And much more: a special rare and endangered section of Lone Star State plants and the Garden for the Blind.

The peace de resistance is the Lucille Halsell Conservatory, 90,000 square feet of climatically controlled glass edifices housing five sections that include an exhibition room, tropical conservatory and a fern grotto, plus desert and palm pavilions.

The supervisor of this amazing tribute to Mother Nature is Paul Cox, who has spent more than half of his 52 years at the complex. He was employed three years before the garden actually opened in 1980.

The native Texan born in Dallas oversaw formation of the East Texas Piney Woods, one of several native Texas areas featuring a one-acre lake, home to such waterfowl as black-bellied tree ducks, mallards, and green herons. Plants native to that section of the state requiring acid, sandy soil and a moist, humid climate include dogwood, lob lolly pine, magnolia and sweetgum. 

Other unique displays consist of plant communities characteristic of the Hill Country and Southwest Texas. Several dwellings in the 1800s were reconstructed to help illustrate and interpret regional themes enhancing the three distinctive settings. 

A popular area is the $6.9 million conservatory named for the wife of Ewing Hashell, who donated the bulk of the money contributed by several benefactors. 

It was no easy task to complete before the opening on Feb. 29, 1988. "The most difficult thing were the plantings," Cox recalls. "We had to use heavy equipment. Saguaro (large Arizona cacti) and the large palms had to be lifted with huge cranes and lowered through the roof."