XPlanta :: Theatrum Botanicum
is owned and operated by Rick and Sarah Hepting who have lived and worked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, since 2005.

In 1989 Rick Hepting created and operated in California, USA, Theatrum Botanicum, a Rare Plant Nursery. Theatrum Botanicum was sold by Rick and Sarah in 2005 When moving to Mexico. In 2018, it was born again here in Puerto Vallarta as XPLANTA, an EthnoBotanical Garden and Vivero.

Before founding the original nursery in 1989, Rick owned and operated for 10 years a typesetting and publishing and graphic design business, BERKELEY TYPE, in Berkeley California.

Sarah Hepting owned and operated an organic truck farm in Laytonville, California, from 1985 until 2000 when she became a partner in Theatrum Botanicum. She was an officer and founding member of the Mendocino County Farmers Market.

The nursery was named after the 1640 herbal, “Theatrum Botanicum, or An Herball of Large Extent,” by John Parkinson.

To see a digitized copy of the original herbal, click here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5325114272&view=1up&seq=1231

XPlanta :: Theatrum Botanicum
is a hidden Botanical Garden. Seeing it from the street, it looks no different than many other buildings here in Puerto Vallarta, with the normal plaster and brick facade and a plant-lined roof. The difference is the type of plants lining this roof. We have two roof levels filled with plants from all over the world, many that you will have trouble finding anywhere outside of their original environments, plants that have intricate, sometimes dangerous, sometimes healing relationships with humanity.

A SHORT TOUR OF THE GARDEN in a local newspaper (Banderas News, 2009): http://www.banderasnews.com/0903/eden-janestillwater07.htm