Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory
Encyclopedia
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, U.S.. It is owned and operated by the Milwaukee County Park System, and replaced the original Milwaukee Conservatory which stood from 1898 to 1955. The three domes display a large variety of plant life.
Description
Designed by Donald L. Grieb Associates, Architect, the Conservatory is composed of three beehive-shaped glass domes that span 140 feet (42.7 m) in diameter and are 85 feet (25.9 m) high. They are properly referred to as the world's first conoidal domes. They cover 45000 square feet (4,180.6 m²) of display area and were constructed in stages from 1959 to 1967. Locally, they are commonly called the "three-breasted lady".Connecting the three domes is a central lobby area, which was extensively redesigned in the summer of 2008. A smaller service dome behind the Conservatory holds replacement plants and an orchid collection. This section is not open to the public.
The Conservatory was closed during the summer of 2008 to facilitate the replacement of 800 cracked glass panels. The lobby was remodeled and a $500,000 donation allowed for a new external and internal lighting system. The Conservatory re-opened to large crowds on October 20, 2008. A series of concerts was held on Thursday nights through November. Several other improvements include a re-configured parking lot, outside landscaping and a new educational center scheduled to open in fall of 2009. Future plans call for a greenhouse complex at the rear of the Conservatory to replace current off site facilities.
Domes
Each of the three domes maintain a distinct climate and setting for the exposition of its contents.Show Dome
The Show Dome opened in December 1964. It hosts four seasonal shows and one holiday exhibit held annually in December for visitors to enjoy. Each show has a theme chosen based on cultural (such as JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese, German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), literary (Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
"A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
"), or historical interest (Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
and the History of Herb Gardening, for example).
In most recent years, the Winter Show
has featured an extensive garden railway
Garden railway
A garden railroad or garden railway is a model railway system set up outdoors in a garden. While G is the most popular scale for garden railroads, 16 mm scale has a dedicated and growing following especially in the UK. Model locomotives in this scale are often live steam scale models of British...
display put on with the cooperation of many Wisconsin Model Railroad club members. It has become one of the most popular displays during the year and is one of the largest indoor Garden Railroad displays in the Midwest.
Tropical Dome
The Tropical Dome opened in February 1966. The Tropical Dome features nearly 1,000 species of plants, including many economically important fruit bearing plants such as bananaBanana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
, papaya
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
, ackee
Ackee
The ackee, also known as the vegetable brain, achee, akee apple or akee is a member of the Sapindaceae , native to tropical West Africa in Cameroon, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.It is...
, guava
Guava
Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America...
, avocado
Avocado
The avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
, and cacao. One of the cacao trees is over 60 years old and was transplanted from the old Conservatory. It still sets fruit each year. Hardwoods include big-leaf, little-leaf, and African mahoganies, ebony
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...
and lignum vitae
Lignum vitae
Lignum vitae is a trade wood, also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as pockenholz, from trees of the genus Guaiacum. This wood was once very important for applications requiring a material with its extraordinary combination of strength, toughness and density...
. A rare curare
Curare
Curare is a common name for various arrow poisons originating from South America. The three main types of curare are:* tubocurare...
vine can also be found growing.
The dome is seasonally decorated with a wide variety of blooming plants, including a number of award winning orchids. The center of the Dome is dominated by a large kapok tree. It is one of the tallest trees under glass. At one time, its height was up to 95 feet (29 m) high, but is now kept at a more manageable 60 feet (18 m). In addition to the plants, the Tropical Dome is home to a number of colorful birds.
Arid Dome
The Arid Dome opened in November 1967. It displays a wide variety of plants from the AmericasAmericas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The American section contains a large number of plants native to the Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
, including shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s, tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s, annuals
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
and bulb
Bulb
A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...
s, as well as the familiar cacti
Cacti
-See also:* RRDtool The underlying software upon which Cacti is built* MRTG The original Multi Router Traffic Grapher from which RRDtool was "extracted".* Munin -External links:******...
. The African section has aloe
Aloe
Aloe , also Aloë, is a genus containing about 500 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....
s, crassula
Crassula
Crassula is a large genus of succulent plants containing many species, including the popular Jade Plant, Crassula ovata. They are native to many parts of the globe, but cultivated varieties are almost exclusively from the Eastern Cape of South Africa....
s, euphorbias, along with the unusual Welwitschia
Welwitschia
Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gymnosperm plant, composed solely of the very distinct Welwitschia mirabilis. The plant is commonly simply known as Welwitschia in English. It is known locally as !kharos or khurub , tweeblaarkanniedood , nyanka , or onyanga , among others...
plant, which has only two continuously growing leaves and may live for over a thousand years.
Another section hosts the succulent flora of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
and includes plants such as Euphorbia, Pachypodium
Pachypodium
Pachypodium is a genus of succulent spine-bearing trees and shrubs, native to Africa. It belongs to the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. Pachypodium comes from a Latin form from Greek pachus and podion , hence meaning thick-footed.-Genus characteristics:All Pachypodium are succulent plants that...
, Adenia
Adenia
Adenia is a genus in the passionflower family Passifloraceae. It is named after Aden, a city in Yemen.The genus includes a number of tropical and subtropical xerophytes; many of which form substantially thickened bases or lianas. It is also a Caudiciform. Many species are characterised by the...
, Didierea, Alluaudia
Alluaudia
Alluaudia is a genus of six species of flowering plants endemic to Madagascar, where they form an important component of the Madagascar spiny forests. They are spiny succulent shrubs and trees from 2–20 m tall, with leaves that are deciduous in the long dry season...
, and Operculicarya
Operculicarya
Operculicarya is a plant genus of the family Anacardiaceae....
. Many of them were grown from seed obtained in Madagascar. This area was formally dedicated on September 8, 1984 by Leon Rajaobelina, the Ambassador from Madagascar.
In August 2006, an Encephalartos ferox produced a double red-colored cone. It is only the second time in over 30 years this has happened. The cones are expected to last several months, most likely until spring brings warmer weather.
Mitchell Park
Mitchell Park is one of the six original Milwaukee parks created by the first park commission. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=431354 It occupies a spot on the south side of Milwaukee, starting with a core of 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) that was donated by the Mitchell family and named after the wealthy banking magnate Alexander MitchellAlexander Mitchell (politician)
Alexander Mitchell was a Scottish-born banker, railroad financier and Democratic politician in Milwaukee.He was born in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and immigrated to the United States in 1839...
, grandfather of General Billy Mitchell. Further donations brought the total area to just over 60 acres (242,811.6 m²).
Also found on park grounds, at a bluff overlooking the Menomonee Valley
Menomonee Valley
The Menomonee Valley or Menomonee River Valley is a U-shaped land formation along the southern bend of the Menomonee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because of its easy access to Lake Michigan and other waterways, the neighborhood has historically been home to the city's stockyards, rendering...
, is a monument marking the site of an early trading post built by Jacques Vieau
Jacques Vieau
Jacques Vieau was a French-Canadian fur trader and first permanent white settler in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was born near Montreal, Canada and died in Howard, Wisconsin....
. Vieau was a settler and fur trader who later became father-in-law to Milwaukee founder Solomon Juneau. Just south of the Conservatory was the site of extensive formal gardens and a sunken water feature. Opened in 1904, it was removed in the late 1980s due to budget cuts.