The Huntington Botanical Gardens House an Encyclopedic Collection of Desert Plants

The Huntington Botanical Gardens are not your ordinary walk in the park.  Along with nearly 14,000 exotic plant species, it is also home to one of the oldest and largest <a href="http://inhabitat.com/desert-topped-gateway-building-blends-in-with-magestic-mcdowell-sonoran-preserve/" target="_blank">desert</a> plant collections in the world.

Spanning over 120 acres and featuring more than a dozen specialty gardens including a Palm Garden, a Shakespeare Garden, a Subtropical and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/prefabricated-shelters-offer-a-jungle-eco-retreat/" target="_blank">Jungle Garden</a>.

The lily pond was the first garden to be established in 1904 as a solution to an unsightly gully caused by the natural springs in the gardens.

The pond now houses numerous shoreline, surface,and submerged <a href="http://inhabitat.com/floating-water-lily-islands-would-delight-tourists-and-soak-up-solar-rays/" target="_blank">water plants</a>, as well as families of turtles and koi.

Another highlight of the expansive grounds is the Shakespeare garden, stylized like an old English countryside.

The Shakespeare garden includes poppies, pansies, violets, pinks, carnations, rosemary, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/guerilla-gardening-flowers-beautify-abandoned-flyer-box/" target="_blank">daffodils</a>, irises, roses, columbines, and marigolds.

Each flower in the Shakespeare Garden is accompanied by a small plaque quoting the relevant shakespeare verse.

It was founder, Henry Huntington's interest in cacti and other succulents that truly contributed to the botanical collection over a century ago.

On one desert trip to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/arizona-life-science-building-has-a-really-really-big-roof/" target="_blank">Arizona</a> in 1908, Huntington filled three entire railroad cars to take back to the garden.

By constructing one of the most paramount collections of desert plants. Huntington brought a largely unknown and unappreciated group into the botanical spotlight.

Now housing nearly 5,000 <a href="http://inhabitat.com/desert-chair-planted-with-living-growing-cacti/" target="_blank">desert species</a>, the Huntington Desert Garden is one of the world's most encyclopedic collections.

The Desert garden collection includes 200 of the world's 300 species of aloe.

The Huntington staff consists of 120 gardeners, 4 curators and over 100 volunteers.

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