Enjoy Your Visit — WALK THE GARDEN

A Walk Through the Garden's Greenhouses

Where do gardeners go to satisfy their plant cravings when the weather outside is less than perfect? Within minutes, a walk through the Garden's Greenhouses can transport anyone needing a “green fix” to a semitropical, tropical, or desert environment, filled with specialty plants that flourish in these three different climes. For 40 years, the Greenhouses have displayed beautiful and fragrant flowering plants, rare plants, edible plants, utilitarian plants, seasonal plants, and houseplants from around the world. These glass houses have also served as living laboratories where tiny seedlings grew to the ceiling, ancient plants bloomed, and cacti spawned families. When the weather outside is not delightful, come inside and refresh yourself as you discover the healing and spiritual properties of hundreds of unusual plants!

PHOTO: the tropical greenhouse during Wonderland Express In the Semitropical Greenhouse, where temperatures hover between 75 to 85 degrees during the day, and the humidity is around 30 percent, visitors will find plants from all over the globe, many of which gardeners might recognize as familiar midwestern houseplants. Rubber plant, peace lily, streptocarpus, a variety of ferns, gardenia, hibiscus, and jasmine are but a few in this category, most blooming brightly with orange, blue, pink, lavender, and scarlet flowers in winter. The Garden's whimsical collection of topiary plants overwinters in this “house,” so be sure to seek out the penguins, elk, teddy bear, heron, cranes, and dinosaurs, all in camouflage, since they are created completely from plants! The Greenhouses know no season. Twelve months of the year, the climate and humidity are controlled by fans, whitewash on windowpanes, and tightly regulated thermostats, where a ten-degree drop in temperature at night is essential. Home gardeners can pick up useful tips on how to grow these familiar plants at home — even without a greenhouse.

PHOTO: fuschia in the tropical greenhouse PHOTO: pentas in the tropical greenhouse It's warmer in the tropics, and the Tropical Greenhouse pushes the heat level up by 10 degrees (but again, down at night), and the moisture in the air is now at 50 percent — a perfect combination for these water- and warmth-loving plants from Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean. The shapes and sizes of the leaves in this greenhouse are astounding, as many plants develop ingenious methods to out-compete their densely planted neighbors for precious rainfall and sunlight. Many of them reach higher and higher for the sun, while others grow low, content to make do with filtered light. If there is one word to think about as you admire the hundreds of completely diverse greenhouse plants, that word is adaptation. How do plants adapt to their surroundings? Compare the monstrous, 7-foot banana leaves with the delicate, arching foliage of the palms. Banana plants produce lots of fruit (a process requiring a huge expense of energy), and those oversized leaves need to manufacture the starches and energy so the plant can “make fruit.” School groups coming through this greenhouse make a beeline for the banana plants, especially if they are in flower — you've never seen anything like it!

The tropics are home to some of the most gorgeous flowers prized by floral designers and they're growing here, too. Masses of bougainvillea crowd the windows as they climb closer to the sun; brilliant red and yellow Heliconia from Central America, and the deep red torches of flowering ginger are now seen as whole plants, not just cut flowers. Orchids and more orchids are shown as they grow in the wild — often nestled in the protected shallows of tree branches, where their specialized roots absorb water and nutrients from the air or the host plant — harming neither in the process. The grand Mexican fan palm allee anchors this greenhouse — don't miss these trees during the holidays, when their trunks are wrapped with festive white lights. The greenhouse will be decked out further with ornamental hanging balls made of orchids, and cone-shaped trees fashioned from bromeliads.

PHOTO: blooming succulent cactus PHOTO: kids examine cactus in the Arid Greenhouse The Arid Greenhouse presents not just a display of cacti, succulents, and other oddities, but a very real example of plants naturally adapting to little water and very harsh conditions. Yes, the desert is hot during the day, but temperatures can drop by 40 degrees at night! The brilliant flashes of floral color and every shade of green seen in the other greenhouses now give way to blues, grays, silvers, and perhaps a touch of soft yellow. In this environment, hot daytime sun is plentiful (80 to 90 degrees), nights are cold, soil is rocky, and water is the most precious commodity. How do plants succeed in attracting, storing, and parceling out this water? Take a look at the fat cactus pods, the spines of the agave, the slow and low plant growth, the waxy coating on plant leaves — they are all there to help the plants conserve water. Look at the unusual shapes of leaves — spiral, corkscrew, pencil, snakelike. With the exception of the tall ancient spurge from India, note how short all the other plants are. They have adapted to this tough environment, sine their future depends on the conservation of natural resources, not rapid growth. The desert will be “in bloom” for the holidays, too, with specially created hanging balls of kalanchoe and poinsettias.

Enjoy the indoor pleasures of the plant world every season of the year!