Conservatory &
Indoor Gardens

The Dome

The geodesic-domed conservatory at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden has alwasy been an iconic destination. It first opened on a frigid day in December 1979. The conservatory stands 80 feet tall at its highest point and measures 150 feet wide. It is comprised of 665 molded Plexiglas® panels set within an anodized aluminum skeleton. It’s a one-of-a-kind way to move immediately from tundra-like winter weather to the balmy atmosphere of the tropics.

Indoor Gardens

The collections grown in the conservatory, the Gardeners Show House and the production greenhouses represent the Botanical Garden’s mission of exploring, explaining and celebrating plants with people. The diversity of greenery is shared through a reference collection of pantropical species. Historically, this collection consisted primarily of plants from the acanthus, agave, palm, cactus, banana and orchid families. Over time, it has evolved to balance ornamental exhibition with botanical education. It represents notable specimens from those families of historic interest while creating seasonally dynamic displays celebrating the art of horticulture and planting design.

Why a Dome?

Early advocates for a public garden in Des Moines may have been introduced to geodesic domes by visiting others. The Climatron, built at the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1960. The pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. And the American Pavilion at Expo ’67 now known as the Montreal Biosphere. The earliest known geodesic structure was built in Germany and opened to the public in 1926. The idea is most often associated with an American visionary, R. Buckminster Fuller. Visit the Botanical Garden History page to learn more about when our Dome came to be.

Tropical Paradise

Most of the permanent plantings in the conservatory hail from the tropics. This is a band encircling the Earth north and south of the equator with mean temperatures above 64 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Some areas are constantly hot and wet, while others have a relatively short rainy season followed by protracted dry weather. Despite the constant heat, some are classified simply as dry, arid or semi-arid like the Australian Outback and the Sahara Desert.

The conservatory features over 1,000 taxa from these regions in horticulturally contrived schemes. Each explore themes of ethnobotany and ecology. Study these plant communities and you’ll find some surprising plant relationships amid the zesty, tropicalismo aesthetic.

Notable experiences in the conservatory include:

• Louteridium donnell-smithii (no common name) is an unusual member of the acanthus family from southern Mexico and Central America. Its oversized, fuzzy, heart-shaped leaves form a texturally impressive canopy near the arbor and on the southern wall of the conservatory. This night-flowering shrub blooms in February and March featuring curious, flesh-toned and bucket-shaped flowers pollinated by bats in the wild.
• Acalypha hispida (chenille plant), with its long fuzzy flowers belongs to the spurge family, the Euphorbiaceae. As do Christmas poinsettia and the many different crotons whose leaves bring color to the conservatory all year.
• The traveler’s palm is not a true palm but rather a member of the bird-of-paradise family named Ravenala madagascariensis. There are two theories about the common name. One is that rain collects in the leaf stalk sheaths and could quench the thirst of a weary traveler. The other, more likely theory is that the leaf fans orientate themselves east-west and could act as a compass.
• A tumbling waterfall in the conservatory attracts visitors of all ages, along with the koi.
• The desert garden features the spiny, poky, and prickly leaves of cacti and other succulents. It includes familiar Agave (century plants), Euphorbia (crown of thorns), Crassula (jade plant) and a number of woody “lilies” like Yucca. This garden is stewarded by a loyal troop of volunteers who genially call themselves “Desert Diggers”. The desert garden continues to flourish as an educational example of the many fascinating plants that populate arid spaces of the world.