Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, Des Moines

I was in town for a bit and decided to go to the botanical gardens here. It’s only about $10 and they are all really helpful inside and really sweet. Once you are inside with people love talking to you about everything without you even having to ask, which I thought was really nice because it shows that they really love their job and they really care about the gardens. And it’s not like you paid for a tour so I really really liked the people here. I went during winter so I couldn’t go outside, I definitely wanna go back during the summer to see the outside part. The inside though is really cool! I actually did learn a lot here! They also have some other rooms where you can see other kinds of plants. They have the most Coleus of all the botanical gardens here. There’s over 650 different species and they display 50 at a time. They also have a good orchid collection. As well as desert type plants which surprised me because I’m from Vegas. I didn’t think they would have that here. They even have a separate room where you can make your own plants! If you were in the Des Moines area, I highly recommend you stop by here.

For a small city botanical center, they have some spectacular specimens. Their lily pad display is stunning. And I have been to Vietnam and Bali so I have photographic memories for comparison. There are a couple of cactus species I have never seen before and I have spent a lot of time in desert environments. My preferred camping areas. At a very reasonable 10$, I was totally satisfied with my visit. Well Done!