Rio Grande Botanic Garden

The Rio Grande Botanic Garden (13 ha/32 acres) is a botanical garden and 900-square-meter (9,700 sq ft) conservatory located located at 2601 Central Avenue NW in Albuquerque, New Mexico, beside the Rio Grande and what is said to be the largest cottonwood gallery forest in the world. The botanical garden is a component of the Albuquerque Biological Park and contains a series of outdoor gardens which place an emphasis on plants locally found in the American Southwest.

Exhibits

The gardens contains a series of outdoor and indoor spaces:

  • Spanish-Moorish Courtyard and Walled Gardens. These outdoor gardens, located just inside the entrance, contains a Spanish-Moorish themed garden displaying aromatic plants such as rosemary, Spanish lavender, fig and pomegranate trees; a small, round garden with a raised bed of cultivated roses called the Jardin Redondo; and the Ceremonial Rose Garden which contains a scenic trellis covered with wisteria and rambling roses.
  • Mediterranean Conservatory. This large greenhouse displays a variety of plants native to coastal areas with hot dry summers and mild rainy winters, such as the Mediterranean, the California coast, southwestern Australia, South Africa and coastal Chile. rockroses, bottlebrush trees, olive trees, myrtles, oleanders and numerous mints and sages are displayed here. This conservatory is also the locale for several flower shows, including Winter Fire Colors, Bulbs in Bloom and the Orchid Show. In 2009, an exhibit on arthropods was added as a preview for a future insectarium to be built at the botanical gardens.
  • Desert Conservatory. Located next to the Mediterranean Conservatory, this second greenhouse simulates a dry climate and displays a collection of plant life from deserts of the American Southwest, such as saguaro cactus and palo verde trees from the Sonoran Desert, creosote and yucca from the Chihuahuan Desert, and elephant trees from Baja.
  • Curandera Garden. This is a traditional herb garden based on the practices of Curanderos, or Spanish folk doctors, who have a long history of herbal medicine in New Mexico. The garden also contains a bas relief sculpture by Diego "Sonny" Rivera depicting a Curandero.
  • Camino de Colores. This garden is divided into four area, each themed to one of the four seasons, with plants chosen to represent each season's colors year-round. This garden also contains a water feature in the winter garden, and large rose planters.
  • Sasebo Japanese Garden. A classically designed Japanese Garden, containing Japanese architecture and design elements such as the tile-capped garden wall and tile-roofed entry gate, an elevated bell tower, stone lanterns and pagoda sculptures, a ceremonial hand-wash basin, a waterfall, koi pond, a arched-moon bridge, and a viewing deck. The plant palette includes both traditional Japanese and American Southwest plantings.
  • Heritage Farm. A re-creation of a 1930s era Albuquerque-area farm, containing a kitchen garden, crops, an orchard, vineyard and berry bushes, as well as replicas of a farmhouse, a barn, and a stables. Demonstrations take place in the farmhouse, and farm animals such as cows, goats, sheep, and horses live at the stables. This garden won the 2007 American Public Gardens Association award for excellence in programming and was invited to place an exhibit at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. from May through October 9, 2007.
  • PNM Butterfly Pavilion. An indoor butterfly house, open seasonally.
  • "Garden" Railroad. An outdoor model railroad layout.
  • Children's Fantasy Garden. A fourteen-foot high dragon stands at the entrance of the Fantasy Garden that gives visitors a mite's eye perspective on the garden. Giant bugs, gardening tools, and huge pretend vegetables tower over visitors to this garden. A walk-through "pumpkin" 42 feet (13 m) in diameter and two stories high is the centerpiece of this garden.

Plant Collection

Collections include Achillea filipendulina, Abelia grandiflora, Acanthus mollis, Althaea rosea, Anacyclus depressus, Anigozanthos flavidus, Aquilegia chrysantha, Asclepias speciosa, Berlandiera lyrata, Bougainvillea glabra, Buddleia davidii, Buddleia marrubifolia, Calliandra california, Callirhoe involucrate, Callistemon citrinus, Calylophus hartwegii, Calylophus serrulatus, Campsis radicans, Carissa grandiflora, Carnegia gigantea Carpenteria californica, Caryopteris clandonensis, Centranthus ruber, Cerastium tomentosum, Chilopsis linearis, Chitalpa tashkentensis, Chrysactinia mexicana, Cistus ladanifer, Cistus salviifolius, Cistus × purpureus, Clematis sp., Cleome serrulata, Coreopsis grandiflora, Dasiphora floribunda, Datura wrightii, Dietes grandiflora, Dipsacus fullonum, Echium fastuosum, Fouquieria columnaris, Fouquieria splendens, Gaillardia grandiflora, Galvezia speciosa, Gaura lindheimeri, Geranium sp., Glandularia gooddingii, Gossypium harknessii, Hemerocallis sp., Hesperaloe parviflora, Heterocentron elegans, Hymenoxys acaulis, Hypericum calycinum, Ipomoea fistulosa, Jasminum odoratissimum, Justicia californica, Kniphofia uvaria, Lavandula 'Munstead', Leonotis leonurus, Leucanthemum vulgare, Leucophyllum candidum 'Thunder cloud', Leucophyllum langmaniae 'Rio Bravo', Lobelia laxiflora, Lonicera japonica 'Halliana', Lonicera sempervirens, Melaleuca elliptica, Nandina domestica, Nepeta × faassenii, Nerium oleander, Oenothera missouriensis, Oenothera speciosa, Olea europaea, Penstemon barbatus, Penstemon pinifolius, Penstemon pseudospectabilis, Philadelphus sp., Phlomis cashmeriana, Phlomis fruticosa, Phlomis russeliana, Phygelius capensis, Plumbago auriculata, Plumbago scandens, Punica granatum, Ratibida columnifera, Rosa sp., Salvia greggii, Salvia repens, Sambucus mexicana, Sapindus drummondii, Spiraea bumalda 'Anthony Waterer' & 'Goldflame', Stachys lanata, Tecoma 'Orange Jubilee', Tulbaghia fragrans, Yucca brevifolia, and Yucca linearifolia.

External links

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Leslie Driskill
14 September 2021
Beautiful part of the ABQ Botanical Garden.
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656 Paseo Del Bosque Trail, Albuquerque, NM 87104, USA Get directions

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