Desert Garden Conservatory

About

The Desert Garden Conservatory is a large botanical greenhouse and part of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California. It was constructed in 1985. The Desert Garden Conservatory is adjacent to the 10-acre (40,000 m2) Huntington Desert Garden itself. The garden houses one of the most important collections of cacti and other succulent plants in the world, including a large number of rare and endangered species. The 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) Desert Garden Conservatory serves The Huntington and public communities as a conservation facility, research resource and genetic diversity preserve. John N. Trager is the Desert Collection curator.

There are an estimated 10,000 succulents worldwide, about 1,500 of them classified as cacti. The Huntington Desert Garden Conservatory now contains more than 2,200 accessions, representing more than 43 plant families, 1,261 different species and subspecies, and 246 genera. The plant collection contains examples from the world's major desert regions, including the southern United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Canary Islands, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico and South Africa. The Desert Collection plays a critical role as a repository of biodiversity, in addition to serving as an outreach and education center.