About Us

The Dallas Horticulture Center was renamed Texas Discovery Gardens.

A new mission statement was adopted: "To have a positive impact on the future of Texas by teaching effective ways to restore, conserve and preserve nature in the urban environment through the use of native and adapted plants which illustrate the interrelationship of butterflies, bugs and botany."

The Scent Garden was renovated with City of Dallas Bond Funds.

The Texas Organic Research Center designated Texas Discovery Gardens as the first “Certified Organic Public Garden” in the State.

The Metamorphosis began as ground was broken for the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium.

Phoenix I Restoration and Construction created a new front entrance, designed by Oglesby Greene; which included a new “Texas” landscape, irrigation system, walkways, and a recreation of the original 1936 Bas Relief panels depicting native North Texas plants and insects.

On February 27, the City of Dallas approved $4,700,000 in Bond Funds for the continued renovation of the Conservatory and Main Building.

Construction of The Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium progressed and Phoenix I Restoration and Construction, along with Oglesby Greene Architects, began the final phase of this project on March 17, 2008.

The Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium was completed and the grand opening of the new Texas Discovery Gardens occurred September 12, 2009. 

The Discovery Art Gallery opened in the Main Building to further Texas Discovery Gardens' mission of environmental education, through the use of artistic expression.

The Gallery hosted its first Art Exhibition called ‘Global Swarming’. This group show was created by Texas WAX/Dallas to illuminate the global plight of Honeybees suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder.

Vancouver based artists, Michael Vandermeer and Cheryl Hamilton, of i.e. creative, installed ‘Imago’, in collaboration with the City of Dallas Public Art Program. This series of seven hand-blown glass and steel hanging sculptures depicting insects, flowers, and other elements of the natural world, was designed to hang from the ceiling in the Main Building's two-story lobby. 

The Dallas County Master Gardener Association broke ground on the Master Gardeners' Garden, featuring native and adapted drought tolerant plants, garden ornaments, and butterfly seats. 

New displays were built to house exotic arthropods and Texas Discovery Gardens began receiving shipments of butterflies and moths from Africa.

The Master Gardeners' Garden was expanded.

Muralist Areli Duran installed two, four-panel murals covering TDG’s outdoor restrooms near the Greenhouse. The murals illustrate to garden visitors both the Trans-Pecos and blackland prairie biomes of Texas.

Biologist-Artist Laney Green installed a floor-to-ceiling mural, spanning the entire length of the EarthKeepers Children’s Multipurpose Room. The mural depicts four of Texas’ ecoregions, displaying a variety of native flora and fauna for thousands of visitors attending programs at Texas Discovery Gardens.

Construction began on TDG’s Natural Playscape.

The Grand Allee du Meadows and fountain were renovated.

Construction of the Children's Natural Playscape, a challenging outdoor recreation attraction was finished.

The Conservation Canyon project began in the gardens, which reclaimed an asphalt street to native Black Land Prairie.

The remodel and conversion of the interior of the historic Centennial House to a large Wedding Suite.

The unique Model Train Garden takes residence in the gardens.

The historic Covid-19 pandemic created the need for a larger online presence and the creation of online education programs begins.

Axolotl exhibit goes up in the lobby. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resourcesconsiders axolotls critically endangered and their population declining.