by Meg Lynch, Editor

My fiancé and I went to a wedding in the Des Moines area over the weekend. We had some spare time, so we checked out the Des Moines Botanical Center. It was a great break from the frigid weather! Even John, who is not exactly a “plant person,” enjoyed the colorful bulb display blooming inside the entrance. (He took these photos with his cell phone.)

The main part of the Botanical Center is a Plexiglass and aluminum dome, 150 feet wide and 80 feet tall at its highest point. The collection of plants growing in the dome includes unusual tropical plants, familiar houseplants, shrubs, and fruit and nut trees. Some of the palm trees there are quite large, and you follow winding paths through the dome, heading up and down to different levels, so you really get the feeling of being in a lush tropical garden. And it is always fun to see the plants you grow as houseplants in their natural state (big!).  

The Botanical Center also has an annex called the Gardener’s Showcase, where volunteers design exhibits demonstrating design ideas or certain groups of plants, and classes and events take place in the center’s classrooms.

The temperature was -2 when we left Des Moines on Sunday, heading for the airport in Omaha. I spotted a billboard for Omaha’s Botanical Center (or Lauritzen Gardens) and remembered writing a little box on an event there when I first started working at Horticulture. Too bad we had flights to catch. (Right, John?) I’d like to get there someday. Preferably a warm one!

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2/12/2008 3:17:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]