Explore rare, unusual plants in the new Dickinson conservatory at the San Diego Botanic Garden

San Diego Botanic Garden invites visitors to explore its new guest experience — the Dickinson Family Education Conservatory. The 8,000-square-foot glass-enclosed facility is home to rare and unusual tropical plants, which will add to the already extensive collection in Encinitas of nearly 5,000 plant species from around the world.

This state-of-the-art conservancy is one of the most significant additions to San Diego Botanic Garden in its history. It creates a unique educational public space and it helps develop the botanic garden’s overall plant collection.

As visitors explore the gardens around the outside of the conservatory, they will see rare and endangered palms, cycads, ficus, magnolia and the Wollemia nobilis, a critically endangered Australian conifer that was only known from fossil records until a remnant population was discovered in 1994. San Diego Botanic Garden is fortunate to have this rare conifer on display.

As guests walk into the conservatory and look upward they will see one-of-a-kind floating “plant islands” — reminiscent of the movie “Avatar” — hanging from the ceiling. These living “plant chandeliers,” fabricated of wood and stainless steel, were made specifically for the new conservatory. Epiphytic plants, which naturally grow in the canopy of trees and account for many of the threatened and valuable plants in the tropics, are planted in these beautiful hanging gardens that, on occasion, will be lowered to the conservatory floor for an up-close viewing experience for visitors.

The Dickinson Family Education Conservatory is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 230 Quail Gardens Drive in Encinitas. The new guest experience is included in the price of regular admission: $18 for adults; $12 for seniors and active-duty U.S. military; $10 for youths 3 to 17; and free for children 2 or younger and for San Diego Botanic Garden members.

For more information, visit sdbgarden.org.

LISA REYNOLDS The 8,000-square-foot glass-enclosed conservatory in Encinitas is an educational public space that houses rare and unusual tropical plants, adding to the garden’s collection of nearly 5,000 species from around the world.