Palm Springs: The Pulchritude of Prickly Plants

Beautiful yet dangerous cactus plants

One little gem of a place we visited in Palm Springs is for anyone interested in desert plants. The Moorten Botannical Garden has over 3,000 varieties, making it the world's largest cactarium, consisting mostly of cacti, but also succulents, and a few animals in between.

It was established in 1938 by Chester "Cactus Slim" Moorten and his wife Patricia. Moorten was an actor,  one of the original Keystone Cops and a stand-in for Howard Hughes. Moorten has a star on the walk of fame in Palm Springs.

Cactus buds may flower soon in the garden

In any event, according to the garden's website, he developed tuberculosis on a film set and recovered in Cottonwood Springs, near Joshua Tree. Moorten tried to make a living panning for gold and selling cacti and did a better job with the latter.

He moved to Palm Springs in 1938 and met his future wife Patricia who also had a green thumb, and they set up this garden at their home, which was called Cactus Castle.

Today their son Clark looks after the Moorten Botanical Garden and while it's quite small, it's still a nice little space packed with greenery -- of the prickly kind.

Admission is US$5 for adults and seniors, and you just wander around the garden admiring the numerous cacti species growing there. "Take your time like a turtle... and you will see more!" a small painted sign on a flat rock says. 

I had never before seen braided cholla 

There are so many different kinds of cacti, mostly know by the generic name of prickly pear cactus, but what's impressive is their size, having grown there for over eight decades! One interesting one for me was the braided cholla, and the catcus branches really look like they have been braided together.

Other kinds include barrel cactus, and opuntia or "snow white" cacti -- they have wisps of white hairs growing all over it so from a distance it looks fuzzy and cute!

The garden also has agave, bombax, and South African aloe plants, as well as a hutch with doves flying around in it, and a handful of tortoises, mostly sleeping.

On the website it claims the garden receives some 200 guests per day. Perhaps it's possible, as when we went there was a small, steady stream of people coming in, but the garden didn't feel packed at all.

Agave plants are also in the 84-year-old garden

The open-air gift shop not only sells small cactus plants, but also some ceramic tortoises with shells on their backs, and ants made of metal work.

Moorten Botanical Garden

1701 South Palm Canyon Drive

Palm Springs

(760) 327 6555