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Designed by noted architect Alfred Giles, this is now the entrance to the gardens, and houses the Carriage House Kitchen restaurant, which offers lunches that are visual as well as culinary artworks.

From the gazebo at the highest point in the grounds, stunning vistas extend across the city. The spiraling walkway offers views of the conservatory.

Three local ecosystems are presented on the trail. Southwest Texas includes drought-tolerant shrubs. The East Texas Pineywoods section features pine, magnolia, and dogwood trees around a lake. The Hill Country has live oak, Uvalde maple, and mountain laurel.

This section of the Conservatory (see San Antonio Botanical Garden & Lucile Halsell Conservatory ) presents orchids and bromeliads. The range of flowers is amazing as most plants are moved here only when in bloom.

This garden was designed by Kyoshi Yasui, an expert gardener from Japan. More than 70 symbolic components of traditional Japanese gardens have been incorporated, including a tea-arbor, pond, and waterfall.

This delightful grassy amphitheater in a quiet section of the garden is used for special events, including the annual Shakespeare in the Park and the Concerts Under the Stars series. Both are held in summer.

A cactus lover’s delight, this hothouse replicates the desert conditions of southern Africa and Mexico. The cone cactus, golden barrel, and fire barrel cactus grow here, with a variety of blooms appearing year-round.

Equatorial rainforest plants thrive in the humid heat of this greenhouse. Fast-growing breadfruit, coffee, and cacao trees compete for light, and the air is filled with the scent of plumeria flowers and cardamom leaves.

The 65 ft 20 m tall Palm House is the largest of the hothouses, with a walkway that spirals upward past cycads and palms to an overlook.

Enter the grotto behind the Orangerie with its citrus fruit trees from around the world. Inside, there is a 2-story waterfall, and the walls look like orchid-and-fern covered limestone cliffs.