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Thursday, January 6, 2011

New York Botanical Garden Conservatory

The Conservatory at New York Botanical Garden located just north of New York City in Bronx, NY is the Garden's crown jewel. It's a Victorian-style glasshouse that holds permanent plant exhibits as well as special and seasonal exhibits (like the Holiday Train Show and Orchid Show).


The permanent exhibition is called "A World of Plants" and it showcases tropical rain forests, deserts, aquatic and carnivorous plants. The day I visited, it was so cold outside and as soon as I entered the rain forest area inside the Conservatory, my camera lens completely fogged up!


The lowland rain forest showcases many beautiful tropical plants, epiphytes, trees that provide rain forest canopies and the plants that enjoy life below them.  

The upland rain forest showcases ferns, coffee trees, orchids, mosses and others.




In the desert section, plants from the Americas and Africa are on display. I had never seen Agave attenuata in bloom before and wow, it was stunning!


I wandered around the grounds for a bit after spending such a fantastic and exhilarating time inside the Conservatory. I was so happy to run into these lovely pine cone creatures!



It's such a great place any time of year. I can't wait to go back when spring begins to make an appearance and the garden comes alive.

Be sure to head over to Our Little Acre where Kylee is hosting the Conservatory World Tour, and take a virtual tour of some other fantastic conservatories around the country.

14 comments:

  1. I know, right? I wish I had enough room to create something like this in my yard. During the warmer months, the pine cones are replaced with annuals!

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  2. Hi Kate, Those purple Agave attenuata are stunning! And I love the scale and the curve of the cactus looking plant. It must have been several feet tall? Mother Nature is certainly inventive! Have a great weekend.

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  3. The pine cone creatures are so unique, but they really took a lot of work to make.

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  4. What a wonderful way to spend a day in the winter. They have such beautiful tropical sections. I just love the pine cone critters. LOL! How ingenious and such fun to look at. I am sure even the children loved these fun critters.

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  5. That looks like a huge place inside. I love how you can forget how cold it is outside once you enter a conservatory. The purple flowers are so pretty! Kylee from Our Little Acre is doing a Conservatory tour post in a couple of weeks. You should visit her blog so you can link this post to it.

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  6. Catherine - thanks for letting me know about Our Little Acre. I'll definitely check it out!

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  7. Just was at the gardens to escape the frigid snow and ice! WE love the gardens, checkout the pics...

    http://williamoconnorstudios.blogspot.com/2011/01/tropical-winter-lanscape.html?spref=fb

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  8. Isn't the conservatory so pretty? Do you go for the orchid show? I took my 10 year old last spring and we both loved it. I have a post w/ photos on my blog -- check it out. We have to measure the conservatory garden and do a project on it in my landscape design class on monday -- I'll let you know how it goes! I love the nybg!!

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  9. Kate, Your photos made me want to jump up from my desk and head to Longwood Gardens (the NYBT is a little far). Your photo of the blue orchid is magnificent. Sorry you are experiencing the same ice. Ours melted about 2 hours ago--it was amazing how suddenly it disappeared. Carolyn

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  10. Thanks Carolyn - I've actually never been to Longwood Gardens (I know, I know). It's on my list of places to go and I'm really really hoping to get down there this spring. I hear such wonderful things about it!

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  11. We may be having a little bloggers get together at my nursery in the spring so if you are coming to Longwood, let me know.

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  12. I love the pine cone characters. The conservatory is a beautiful piece of architecture. We have a much smaller conservatory in North Carolina that is part of the NC Zoo. Although much of it is devoted to tropical rain forest.

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  13. I loved conservatories a lot. Some people know perfectly how to use a conservatory effectively. This is one of the best example of it.

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