EXHIBITS

Botanical Garden mingles with Nature Preserve

The South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center in Corpus Christi is a leading South Texas tourism destination showcasing a unique blend of colorful, exotic floral exhibits bordered with vast conserved areas areas of native habitat and natural wetlands.

      Strategically situated on the city’s affluent south side nearly touching the world-famous King Ranch, the 180 acre site is an integral part of Corpus Christi’s growing Oso Creek Greenbelt system, is a Texas Watchable Wildlife Program site, and is on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. 

      Recognized for both its beautiful shorebirds and woodland songbirds, it is a key birding site in Corpus Christi, which repeatedly has been named the Birdiest City in the United States.

      A hub of horticultural and environmental conservation education actively benefiting South Texas economy and Coastal Bend quality of life, STBGNC provides a beautiful respite and source of conservation and environmental learning for residents and visitors.

 

FLORAL EXHIBITS—You’ll love every bloomin’ thing!

The Don Larkin Memorial Orchid Greenhouse, home to one of the largest public collections in the Southwest, featues Cattleya, Phaleonopsis, Paphiopedlum and Dendrobium genera in abundance.  The 2000 plant collection produces nearly year-round blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stately, contemporary Rose Garden displays 300 rose bushes in 12 raised beds with a massive fountain midway down the long, brick ‘bridal path.’  The impressive spacious Bates Rose Pavilion, with expansive adjacent lawn areas, is a popular wedding venue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Plumeria Garden & Willoughby Viewing Platform showcases more than 100 fragrant tropical plumeria—one of the largest public outdoor displays in the continental United States.  Plumeria, best known as the Hawaiian lei flower, are native to the Caribbean so are greenhoused formant during winter months here to protect from infrequent freezes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sensory Garden creatively and subliminally hones our five senses.  Admire plants, infrastructure and stunning sculpture in this unique garden exhibit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tree Demonstration Garden, delightful and whimsical Hummingbird Garden and intriguing Arid Garden help South Texans design shade, hummingbird attractors and ‘aridscape’ into personal outdoor spaces, utilizing the Earth Kind Demonstration Trial Gardens to help select the hardiest, most pest and disease-resistant plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Anderson Bromeliad Conservatory Inside, scheduled to open in spring 2009, is a state-of-the-art facility housing 800-plus Aechmea bromeliads and other genera collected world-wide by Nelwyn and the late John Anderson, internationally known as leading bromeliad collectors and growers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another new exhibit is the New Butterfly House where massive blooms of nectar and larval plants attract Gulf Fritillaries, Tiger and Giant Swallowtails, Red Admirals, Monarchs, Queens, White Peacock, Zebra Longwing, Buckeye and many others.Stout trellises have been added for climbing varieties of butterfly attractors.  An octagonal 2600 square-foot, open air screened Butterfly House, scheduled for completion in spring 2009, will be a walk-through, interactive ‘flight cage’ housing both native and migratory butterflies.

 

NATIVE HABITAT &  NATURAL WETLANDS—Take a ‘Walk on the Wild Side!’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stroll down the shaded Bird & Butterfly Trail, stopping at the Birding Tower and Palapa Grande on Gator Lake, heading on out to the Wetland Awareness Boardwalk and, for the really energetic--Oso Creek Loop Trail for a hike down to Oso Creek.