SAGBUTT at the Volunteer Park Conservatory

This past Sunday, I met up with Paula, who writes Petunia's Garden, at the Volunteer Park Conservatory on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Paula and I are members of a group called SAGBUTT,  a loosely organized group of garden bloggers in the Seattle area that gets together once a month for a local outing. SAGBUTT stands for Seattle Area Garden Bloggers United To Talk. I missed the last two meetings, one because I had friends visiting from out of town, and the other because I wasn't feeling well. But on Sunday, which dawned very cold and frosty, but sunny, I made it into town.

The Volunteer Park Conservatory was built in 1912 and was fashioned after London's Crystal Palace. It's located on Capitol Hill in Seattle, in Volunteer Park, which was designed by John Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. It is a Victorian glasshouse, manufactured in New York, shipped to Seattle and assembled by the Seattle Parks Department, at a now amazing cost of $5,000. The Conservatory is a historic landmark which is approaching its 100th anniversary. Its structural integrity has begun to fail over the years, and it is currently in the middle of a phased renovation process. The Conservatory works with the US Department of Fish and Wildlife as a rescue center for plants that have been illegally brought into the country (We didn't see any of those, I don't think they display them).

The Conservatory consists of five rooms or houses that represent five different growing environments -- The Palm House, the Seasonal Display House, the Cactus House (which was unfortunately closed, so no pictures), The Fern House and the Bromeliad House.

Well, I'll shut up now (mostly) and show you my photos. The first few are a bit foggy, the lens (and my glasses) fogged up immediately when I entered the building. It was warm and very humid inside.

There was a selection of beautiful orchids displayed in cages, probably to keep people from picking them. I managed to poke just the the lens of my little point-and-shoot camera through the openings for pictures.

There were a couple of enormous staghorn ferns on display.

The Fern House was a lesson in leaf texture and contrast.

This Epiphyllum oxypetalum was in a hanging pot. I had one several years ago, but it became too top-heavy and I ended up passing it along to another gardener back in Massachusetts.

This one had several buds, and looks like it's close to flowering. The flowers open only at night, and according to what I've heard, they can perfume a large area.

There was an interesting selection of very poky bromeliads.

I thought these looked like critters that could be crawling across the ocean floor.

The Seasonal Display managed to be evocative of autumn foliage, while not actually using any autumn leaves.

For a wonderful account of a 2011 summer visit to the Volunteer Park Conservatory, please visit a blog from Portland gardener Ann Amato-Buttitta, called The Amateur Bot-ann-ist.

Volunteer Park Conservatory (Seattle): Part One, The Seasonal Display House 

Volunteer Park Conservatory (Seattle): Part Two, The Cactus House 

Volunteer Park Conservatory (Seattle): Part Three, The Palm House 

Volunteer Park Conservatory (Seattle): Part Four, The Fern House

Volunteer Park Conservatory (Seattle): Part Five, The Bromeliad House