Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - A vision of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens that has simmered quietly on the back burner for the past few years - the Vallarta Conservatory of Mexican Orchids - is suddenly back in the limelight in a major way.

Longtime donors to the Gardens have now pledged to match contributions to the Vallarta Conservatory of Mexican Orchids dollar for dollar up to $100,000 USD from now until December 31st, 2013 towards our overall project goal of $350,000 USD. There is now a sense of urgency like never before to share what the Vallarta Botanical Gardens means to our community and to the conservation of Mexico’s precious natural resources.

Public gardens bring beauty and pride to their communities and are considered places of culture and inspiration. We are confident that our new orchid conservatory will become an iconic landmark destination for our region and that our excellence in plant care and display will ensure that it teems with the best examples of the exquisite natural beauty of Mexico.

This conservatory is sure to build added value into Vallarta as a tourism generator, maintaining and even strengthening the backbone of our local economy. For these reasons we feel that this project means more than just plants - it will also be of great benefit to the people of our community.

Since receiving the exciting news of this matching gift program only a few short weeks ago, fellow board members and I have shared this opportunity with a handful of other garden donors and supporters. We have already received thousands of dollars in our conservatory account and thousands more have been pledged.

We can feel the excitement of this project quickly building in momentum and our inspiration will soon change into construction as we continue to receive support. Your donation can help secure that this project will become a reality in 2014. Please consider what the Vallarta Botanical Gardens means to you and to Vallarta. Please share in our vision to showcase Mexican orchids—true wonders of this country’s biodiversity.

To make your contribution online please do so through our Conservatory Campaign Page (preferred) or our FundRazr Campaign through Facebook. The Gardens’ Executive Director, Neil Gerlowski, and the project architect, Joe Sanchez, are available to answer questions about this project and can be scheduled for speaking engagements for potential donors.

Without the direct government funding that many of the other TOP 10 Gardens in North America Worth Traveling For receive we thank our members and donors for allowing us to continue our mission, "to create Mexico's foremost botanical garden for the discovery, study, propagation, conservation and display of native and exotic plants for the enjoyment of Puerto Vallarta's residents and our visitors."

To those of you in Puerto Vallarta, please come up to the mountains and visit us soon; to those of you in other places, we're well worth the travel!

From the Gardens,
Bob Price, Curator and Founder