[1] The Plantation House Hacienda Restaurant and Visitors Center was designed in the style of an 18th-century plantation manor house and serves as the garden’s headquarters. Here, visitors will find the botanical learning center and natural history library. The Hall of Flowers, within the visitors center, is the backdrop to weddings and events. Visitors to the restaurant will enjoy wonderful Mexican specialties, including homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert.

ORCHID FEVER overcomes the most learned botanist and the common gardener alike. Its effects gripped a mother and son team and helped them pursue a vision to create a world-class botanical garden in the mountain highlands of western Mexico. Inspired by their discoveries on weekend botanical safaris into the tropical mountains, a dream was born in which they discovered an urgent need for conservation measures and a raised awareness for the native orchids of the region. Ending a successful career as restaurateurs in Florida, Bob and Betty Price took a west-coast sojourn to San Francisco, then headed south of the border to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, looking for other adventures. They could never have imagined what the future held for them deep in the mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental in western Mexico.

 The mountains surrounding Puerto Vallarta rise to more than 6,000 feet (1,830 m) above sea level and form a dynamic contrast between the mountains and sea below. These mountain highlands are a natural paradise for native orchids and thousands of other tropical plants. Puerto Vallarta is located on the same latitude as the Hawaiian Islands and has similar weather conditions. The main difference is the western coast of Mexico’s pronounced dry winters and the monsoon summer wet season, when an average of 92 inches (2.3 m) of rain falls between May and October. Soon after arriving in Puerto Vallarta, an event occurred that spurred Bob’s interest in orchid protection.