Texas Discovery Gardens is located at 3601 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the Historic Fair Park, gate number five, in Dallas. The hours of operation are from Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 am until 5:00 pm.
The Texas Discovery Gardens contains seven and a half acres of gardens for public viewing, a Butterfly House that is two stories tall, and a Snakes of Texas House building. It is a non-profit organization with a mission that states, “Texas Discovery Gardens is where children and adults discover and learn to sustain the natural world,” their website explains.
Their website also mentions their vision is “to provide a safe and natural oasis to our Dallas community. We want every visitor to leave with the knowledge and desire to emulate our sustainable practices at home.” As the statement explains, “The Gardens are maintained using sustainable methods that conserve water and help to protect the environment.”
The website of Texas Discovery Gardens explains that the gardens are home to “native plants and plant species from other regions of the world that are adapted to the challenging climate and soils of North Texas.” These plants with the gardens provide a habitat for birds, bugs, and butterflies.
The Texas Organic Research Center declared that the Texas Discovery Gardens is the first in the state to be a public garden that is certified as being one-hundred percent organic with adapted and native plants.
“At Texas Discovery Gardens you can discover ways to sustain the natural world. Learn from experts at our events, in our exhibits, or by volunteering,” their website mentions.
Families that visit the gardens can feel free to create a picnic by bringing in food to enjoy at a picnic table or on the lawn within the Texas Discovery Gardens.
One building on the premises is called the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium. The landscape within the building provides tropical scenery with plants and butterflies in a climate-controlled facility.
There is also a Honeybee Tree that includes education on how bees work to build honeycombs. The website shares an “emergence chamber to see chrysalis and what has come out of them that day.”
The Snakes of Texas building holds non-venomous and venomous snakes that educate visitors by explaining how they can keep rodents and other pests at bay, ultimately aiding homeowners and gardeners.
At the Texas Discovery Gardens, an art gallery holds the “best art in Dallas,” according to their website.
Garden Trains can also be found on the premises, with one-thousand feet of train tracks swirling around villages, cities, and Texas model sites. The toy train usually operates on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 am until 5:00 pm on days when they are open to the public.
It all began in 1936. “The Hall of Horticulture” was the name of the now-known Texas Discovery Gardens. In the beginning, it was only half the size of what the current conservatory is.
From 1942 through 1945, the conservatory “served as the headquarters for the War Rationing Board during World War 11,” the website mentions.
Memberships come with many benefits. They include admission to the Butterfly House, Insectarium, and the Gardens. It also provides workshop discounts, ten percent off gift shop merchandise, ten percent off and early shopping advantages for the Butterfly Plant Sale, invitations to exclusive events for members, free or reduced prices to more than three hundred gardens, and one-day free admission to the State Fair of Texas for six people.
Admission prices for non-members are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors ages sixty and over, $5 for children ages three to eleven, and free for children ages two and younger. Memberships are also available.
The two adults’ basic membership is $50. The family basic membership is for two adults and all children or grandchildren under eighteen years old, plus fifteen percent off for camps and birthday parties for $75.
The final membership plan they offer is the family plus membership for $150. That membership is for four adults, all children, and grandchildren under the age of eighteen, and six one-time guest passes to give out for the Butterfly House.
For more information on the Texas Discovery Gardens, visit here.