Conservatory of
Flowers
San Francisco, California
July 2008
This 12,000 square foot
conservatory, in Golden Gate Park, first opened to the
public in 1879. It’s the oldest public conservatory in the
United States. It closed in 1995, underwent a major
restoration, and reopened in 2003.
The outside gardens and the exterior of the conservatory
are beautiful. I really love the classic, old-European look
of the building.
Inside, it is much smaller than I expected, but crammed
with plants. When you walk in, the path goes left and right
because this scene is about three feet from the entrance.
You can clearly see the back wall only about twenty feet
away, but the density of plants in between is amazing.
The path circles this center planting. The planting bed
along the outside wall is only about 2 feet wide but
contains some interesting plants like this palm.
The pathway around this central room is beautiful and
functional. I expected the metal to be slippery when wet
but it didn't seem to be a problem.
One wing contains a pergola and a collection of nicely
grown by fairly ordinary tropical plants. The point of this
wing wasn't really clear to me. There's an interpretive
sign that talks about Victorian Pot Culture but I wasn't
sure if this was meant to show potted plants common in the
Victorian era or what. To be really interesting the room
needs either more interpretation or a more interesting
selection of plants.
The other wing solves one of these problems. It has an
incredible selection of plants. The Conservatory boasts
having one of the country's largest collections of orchids
from high elevation tropics and this is where they are
displayed. The diversity of them is really something to
see. When I think of orchids, it's hard not to think of
corsages and other large, showy flowers. Here most of the
flowers are small and intricate, with interesting groth
forms and beautiful foliage. Not typical orchids at all.
There is also a large collection of carnivorous plants,
especially Nepenthes the high elevation Asian tropics. I
was astounded at the diversity of color, size and form that
the pitchers of these plants can take.
In the center of this wing is a small pool with an
interesting array of aquatic plants.
The collection features nearly 2,000 species of plants from
tropical forests around the world. Unfortunately there is
not a single plant label to be found. I found this
extremely disappointing. There are a few nice interpretive
signs but overall the educational message was totally
missing. Some people may enjoy walking through and just
oohing and aahing over the beautiful and unusual plants but
I was disappointed.
The other problem for me was the lack of security. I saw a
woman picking orchid flowers like she was in her own
garden, and a child breaking off Nepenthes pitchers to see
what was inside. If public gardens are to be taken
seriously as "living museums" they need to act as if their
collections are valuable. If they are valuable, you must
protect them and interpret them. I was very disappointed
that the Conservatory did neither.
I expected to spend a couple of hours, but it only took us
about 30 minutes to see all we wanted to see. The outside
of the Conservatory is beautiful, and there is an amazing
collection of plants inside, but I expected more.
To see more photos of the Conservatory, click
here.
Click here to visit the website of the
Conservatory of Flowers.