Back in the day the botanical garden’s centerpiece, the Climatron, was flanked by two smaller green houses. One was the Mediterranean house and the other was the Desert house. Both were rather old when they were both torn down. The Mediterranean house was rebuilt, but the Desert house never was rebuilt. Maybe because of money or maybe because of some sort of feng shui, I do not know. The Mediterranean house has now stood for enough years that this year it was refurbished and rechristened the Arid house. Maybe this is the garden’s solution, to periodically swap the original two houses in-and-out of the one remaining building. Anyway, the Arid house has opened, and we toured it. Being newish it was crowded. I look forward to going to it again in the future, once all of the hubbub has died down. This winter sometime, when it is cold outside.