Volunteer Park Conservatory
Encyclopedia
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
and conservatory
Conservatory (greenhouse)
A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...
located in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, at the north end of Volunteer Park
Volunteer Park (Seattle)
Volunteer Park is a 48.3 acre park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, USA.-History:Volunteer Park was acquired by the city of Seattle for $2,000 in 1876 from J.M. Colman...
on Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington
Capitol Hill is the most densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the center of the city's gay and counterculture communities, and is one of the city's most prominent nightlife and entertainment districts....
.
Made up of 3,426 glass panes fit into a wood and iron framework, this Victorian-style greenhouse structure is modeled on London's Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
. Inside, the Volunteer Park Conservatory is divided into five display houses: bromeliads, ferns, palms, seasonal, and cacti and succulents.
Collections and programs
The conservatory built up its specialty plant collections through donations from individuals. Between its glass ceilings and walls, the conservatory displays thousands of living specimens for public viewing, while thousands of additional specimens are cultivated in the adjacent greenhouses. Four of the conservatory’s five display houses – bromeliad, fern, palm, and cacti and succulents – feature plants from a single plant primarily along with other accent plants. A fifth house, the seasonal house, features different plants based on the season.Display houses
Bromeliad House: The name bromeliad refers to plants in the BromeliaceaeBromeliaceae
Bromeliaceae is a family of monocot flowering plants of around 3,170 species native mainly to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, Pitcairnia feliciana...
family. More than 2,400 bromeliad species grow worldwide. Bromeliads are commonly epiphytes, which grow by attaching themselves to another surface such as a branch or rock. The conservatory’s bromeliad house features its epiphytes on a special iron display tree holding dozens of different tillandsias species. The conservatory also displays terrestrial species of the bromeliad family, such as the pineapple (Ananas comosus).
Fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
House: A fern is any plant classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta (also known as Filicophyta), a group composed of roughly 20,000 species. The conservatory’s collection features a number of cycads. Other featured plants in the fern house include a Mexican breadfruit (Monstera deliciosa) and tropical flowers including passionflower (Passiflora sp.) and hibiscus. This house also features boggy planters with a collection of carnivorous plants including Venus fly traps (Dionaea muscipula), sundews (Drosera sp), pitcher plants (Saracenia sp).
Seasonal House: This house within the conservatory does not feature a single plant family, but is instead changed over completely six times per year. The featured flowers for each change include pointsettias, mums, late winter flowers, azaleas, early spring flowers, hydrangeas and fuchsias.
Palm House: The 2,500 species of the palm family, Arecaceae
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
, are typically found in tropic and subtropic regions. Notable palms in the consrvatory's collection include the Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) donated by Hiram Chittenden Locks circa 1953. A featured Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta, not a true palm, but a member of the Cyadaceae) was about 80 years old in 2009. In addition to palms, cycads, and orchids, visitors will find banana (Musa
Muša
Mūša is a river in Northern Lithuania and Southern Latvia , having its confluence with river Nemunėlis , in Latvia, near city Bauska. Mūša is a tributary of the river Lielupė. Mūša is 164 kilometres long....
), Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia
Strelitzia
Strelitzia is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. The genus is named after the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, birthplace of Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom. A common name of the genus is bird of paradise flower, because of a supposed resemblance of its...
), Anthurium and ginger (Zingiberaceae
Zingiberaceae
Zingiberaceae, or the Ginger family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes, comprising ca. 52 genera and more than 1300 species, distributed throughout tropical Africa, Asia, and the Americas.Many species are important...
) in this house.
The conservatory’s Orchid collection, which began as a gift from Mrs. Anna H. Clise in 1921, is also found in the palm house. Transporting endangered orchids is prohibited by the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) and many confiscated specimens have been added to the conservatory collection over the years. Orchids are a large and diverse flowering plant family composed of more than 20,000 species. The conservatory’s collection includes representatives of the largest genera – Bulbophyllum
Bulbophyllum
Bulbophyllum is the largest genus in the orchid family Orchidaceae. With more than 2,000 species, it is also one of the largest genera of flowering plants, exceeded only by Astragalus...
, Epidendrum
Epidendrum
Epidendrum , abbreviated Epi in horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,100 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name refers to its epiphytic growth habit...
, and Dendrobium
Dendrobium
Dendrobium is a huge genus of orchids. It was established by Olof Swartz in 1799 and today contains about 1,200 species. The genus occurs in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Borneo, Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Zealand...
– as well as commonly cultivated genera such as Cattleya
Cattleya
Cattleya is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica to tropical South America. The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after Sir William Cattley who received and successfully cultivated specimens of Cattleya labiata that were used as packing material in a shipment of other orchids...
and Phalaenopsis
Phalaenopsis
Phalaenopsis Blume , abbreviated Phal in the horticultural trade, is an orchid genus of approximately 60 species. Phalaenopsis is one of the most popular orchids in the trade, through the development of many artificial hybrids....
.
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:******...
and Succulent House: Members of the spine plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas, are known as cacti or cactuses. All cacti are succulents – plants which have adapted to arid climate or soil conditions and store water in their leaves, stems, and/or roots – but not all succulents are cacti. The conservatory’s collection includes cacti genera such as Opuntia
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
, as well as succulents from other genera such as 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...
, Haworthia
Haworthia
Haworthia is a genus of flowering plants within the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, subfamily Asphodeloideae.. They are small solitary or clump-forming and endemic to South Africa. Some species have firm, tough leaves, usually dark green in color, whereas other are soft and semi-translucent. Their...
, Agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....
, 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"....
, and Euphorbia. Grown from a cutting taken in 1916, the Jade Tree (Crassula argentea) is one of the oldest plants in the conservatory.
Art installations
Several sculptural features and artworks adorn the conservatory.The ornate beveled glass lunette window found just above the entry is original to 1912. In 1981, the conservatory added a hand blown and stained green glass canopy designed by Richard Spaulding and entitled “Homage in Green” to the entry vestibule. Additional green glass pieces, also designed by Spaulding, were added in 1982 and 1995.
A sculptural instrument entitled “Over Lyre” is installed in the bromeliad house. Sound artist Dan Senn created this piece which was installed in memory of Shannon Priebe, a long-time conservatory supporter.
A wrought iron display tree designed by Randy Benson and crafted by local iron artists holds tillandsias in the bromeliad house.
Public programs
The Conservatory is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 4pm. Docents offer tours providing information on Conservatory plant collections, architectural history, plant acquisition and production, physical facility operation, and behind-the-scenes news. The conservatory also publishes a seasonal newsletter, “The Conservatory News.”History
In 1878, the City of Seattle spent $2,000 to acquire approximately 45 acres (182,108.7 m²) on north Capitol Hill from a sawmill engineer. Originally named City Park, it was renamed Volunteer Park in 1901 to honor the volunteers who served in the Spanish-American WarSpanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.. From 1904, this acreage was improved using plans designed by the Olmsted Brothers
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was an influential landscape design firm in the United States, formed in 1898 by stepbrothers John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. .-History:...
, with John Charles Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted , the nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, was an American landscape architect. With his brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., he founded Olmsted Brothers, a landscape design firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. The firm is famous for designing many urban parks,...
as the principal designer for this project
The conservatory was among the earliest additions to City/Volunteer Park. After the project was proposed in 1893, the City of Seattle purchased the conservatory design and framework from the Hitchings Company of New York. The conservatory is a Victorian-style greenhouse modeled on London's Crystal Palace. The City’s Parks Department staff erected the building, completing the work in 1912. In 1922, the conservatory added growing greenhouses in order to grow and propagate plants.
By 1978, the Conservatory’s glass panes and framework of wood and iron had deteriorated and, during high winds, the building was forced to close. Citizens campaigned to restore the physical shell of the Conservatory. As a result of this effort, the Friends of the Conservatory (FOC) became established as a non-profit organization in 1980. Working in partnership with the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, the FOC sponsored an architectural restoration of the Conservatory that took place between 1980 and 1985. In 2003, a Gift Shop/Resource Center opened. In 2004, the FOC led a successful community drive against a proposed mandatory $5 admissions fee.
In both 2005 and 2008, the conservatory witnessed the rare flowering of a corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum). Not only are corpse flowers quite large plants, they are only likely to bloom two to three times within their 40-year life spans. Before it bloomed on July 27, 2008, the specimen at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, nicknamed Waldo, had grown to a size of 47½ inches tall, 30 inches wide, and 52½ inches long.
Organizational structure
The Volunteer Park Conservatory is owned by the City of Seattle and administered by its Department of Parks and RecreationSeattle Parks and Recreation
Seattle Parks and Recreation is the department of government of the city of Seattle, Washington, responsible for maintaining the city's parks, open space, and community centers.The total area of the properties maintained by the department is over , which makes up approximately 11% of the total...
, as it has been since its inception. The conservatory is also a registered United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
repository for confiscated plants. As such, it acquires, quarantines, and later displays restricted orchids, cycads, and other plants seized by USFW agents.
As of April 2009, the conservatory employs five staff people - one senior gardener and four gardeners – to maintain the collections and the facilities. Public programs are largely supported by the Friends of the Conservatory.
The Friends of the Conservatory’s mission, in cooperation with the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, is “to support and advocate for the Conservatory by encouraging preservation, public participation, and education with respect to the Conservatory and its plant collections.” The Friends of the Conservatory (FOC) was established in 1980.
The FOC provides both financial and educational support to the Volunteer Park Conservatory. Its efforts include funding descriptive tour materials and environmental education, helping to build the Conservatory’s orchid collection, and contributing to the Plant Acquisition Fund. The FOC also assists the conservatory in organizing and hosting events, such as open houses and plant sales. Over 100 volunteers provide over 2,500 hours of service to the conservatory annually.