Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium

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The entrance to the Moorten Botanical Garden.

The Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium is a 1 acre (4,000 m²) family-owned botanical garden specializing in cacti and other desert plants, located at 1701 South Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, Riverside County, California, United States. It is in the Colorado Desert ecosystem.

History

The Moorten Gardens were established in 1939 by Patricia and Chester "Cactus Slim" Moorten,^[1] Chester being one of the original Keystone Cops. The Moortens collected many of their own specimen plants from Baja California, mainland Mexico, and as far south as Guatemala. To recognize their contributions to the community, the Moortens were awarded "Golden Palm Stars" on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.^[2]

The Moorten residence, known as "The Cactus Castle", at the garden

Collections

Ecoregion habitats

The garden includes 3,000 examples of desert cacti and other desert plants, grouped by geographic regions:

• Arizona-Sonoran Desert-Yuma Desert
• Baja California Peninsula
• California - High Desert-Mojave Desert and Low Desert-Colorado Desert-Yuha Desert
• Colorado Plateau-Great Basin Desert
• Sonora, Mexico-Gran Desierto de Altar
• South Africa-Succulent Karoo
• South America-Monte Desert-Patagonian Desert
• Texas-Chihuahuan Desert

Garden collections

Outdoor collections include: Agaves, Bombax, crested Cereus, Cardoon and Boojum trees, "arborescent candelabra Euphorbia" , a two-story Pachypodium, thorned Caesalpinia and Bursera, and over a dozen Aloes of southern Africa and Madagascar.

"Cactarium" greenhouse collections include: cacti and succulents, with caudiciform species exhibiting thickened root crowns, many species of Asclepiads, Aztecia, Gymnocalycium, Alstromeria, Euphorbia, and Ferocactus, plus two fine examples of Welwitschia mirabilis from Namibian deserts.

See also

• Living Desert Zoo and Gardens
• List of botanical gardens in the United States

References

Further reading

• Moorten, Patricia (1969). Desert Plants for Desert Gardens. Palm Desert, CA: Best West Pubs.. pp. 112.  LCC QK938 D4 M6

External links

• Moorten Botanical Garden Official website

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