This conservatory, a major landmark and considered to be the crown jewel of New York City houses the tender plant collection of the botanical gardens. The building itself was inspired from the Palm House at Kew Gardens as well as the Crystal Palace (which was destroyed in 1936 and was never rebuilt). The conservatory fell into disrepair in the 70's and needed some much needed major restoration which was then made possible by the generous donation of Enid A. Haupt, hence the conservatory being named after her once all restoration work was completed.
The building is composed of the main dome and a warren of interconnected glasshouses, of different sections with different climactic zones, with each zone housing plant collections that grows in such habitat. With plants coming in from different parts of the globe, then entire collection and experience of walking though them has been appropriately named 'World of Plants' and a walk through the glasshouses certainly does give one taster of different parts of the world and the unique plants that grow in them.
A World of Plants!
On this post we will feature the sections Palms of the World, Lowland Tropical Rainforest, Aquatic Plants and Vines, and the Upland Tropical Rainforest. Alas however, as I went through the photos we've taken in these areas a lot of them were of poor quality and were flawed for one reason or another. The lighting conditions in these areas were not brilliant (it was very cloudy and overcast whilst we were there which didn't help) and our camera struggled hence relatively few photos came out well. But at least there are still plenty enough to give one a taster of what's to see in this charming conservatory.Without further ado we'll now start the tour as we enter the conservatory through the section Palms of the World
Where you will see a selection of tropical palms surrounding a circular pool
Together with the palms there are also a selection of Cycads to be found
And from here it connects into the section Lowland Tropical Rain Forest
The stunning fern Marattia attenuata
Love the walk through the lush plants, it was like being back in Singapore again
Costus sp. spiralling away
A tropical hut adding atmosphere
Climb the stairs to experience what it's like to be up on the canopy...
Then into the section Aquatic Plants and Vines
The stunning palm Cyrtostachys renda - who needs red painted bamboo poles if you have such a plant in your garden?
A very Victorian scenery! Fountain and pool framed by Thunbergia mysorensis
And finally, we go into the Upland Tropical Rain Forest
Gorgeous leaves! - Bocconia frutescens
Cyathea parade
An atmospheric jungle walk
A gorgeous walk through a canopy of Cibotium splendens
And then from here you go through a tunnel into the next section.
Fortunately by the time we got there the clouds have parted and it has become sunny and bright again. Quite appropriate really as the next section we'll be featuring soon are the Deserts of America and Deserts of Africa!
Mark :-)
