Saturday, March 7, 2015

Krohn Conservatory

Krohn Conservatory

As we were traveling to Nashville on Friday, we stopped in Cincinnati, OH to visit the Krohn Conservatory. I would love to visit every conservatory in America, but I've only been to a few in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, and New York. I'm going to post a few pictures, but to see more pictures of the conservatory, visit my Pinterest page here.

The beautiful planting in the foyer

The Krohn Conservatory is located in Eden Park, part of the Cincinnati Parks Service. The first greenhouses were built in the 1880's, used only to grow plants. In 1902 a greenhouse was built for public displays. The conservatory seen today was opened in March, 1933 and is built in the Art Deco style. In 1937 the conservatory was renamed the Krohn Conservatory in honor of Irwin M. Krohn for his 25 years service on the Board of Park Commissioners. 
In 1939 an addition was built for the desert house and in 2004 a room for the orchid and carnivorous plant collection. In 1995 the John Carroll Bonsai Gallery was opened.
We started in the display room which is housing a display called Falling Water Gardens, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. I took these three pictures with the panoramic setting. It wasn't a curved display. 








Krohn conservatory display house






I loved the orange tulips in this display



It was so nice to see tulips, paperwhites, coleus, hydrangeas, and pansies. It was snowy and cold outside but warm and aromatic on the inside.
























Check out the coleus colors with these tulips!






































































 We continued on into the desert house. 
Euphorbia milii or Crown of Thorns
A vertical wall display
 
I loved the vertical garden display.

Euphorbia lactea cristata

Encephalartos horridus or Easter Cape Blue Cycad


































Mytrillocactus goemtrizans or Crested Blue Candle



































Aloe vera flower
Onward to the orchid room.....
A tree covered with orchids and Tillandsias in the orchid room
This unnamed orchid smelled amazing!







Phalaenopsis orchid


What is really great about the bonsai room is all the different styles of bonsai trees that are displayed. The bougainvillea is an informal upright style, while the Ficus 'Too Little' is a group style. There were many more, as well. 
 
Bougainvillea buttiana bonsai Circa 1960 in training since 2008
Bougainvillea buttiana bracts


Ficus 'Too Little' Bonsai trees
On to the palm house....
I loved the sun shining through these beautiful leaves.....


The waterfall was gorgeous....


I always wanted to see a banyan tree...
And finally to the fern room.

Drynaria quercifolia or Oak leaf fern
 I loved the oak leaf fern which is an epiphytic fern. It was climbing this tree and just covering it with the oak leaf looking sterile fronds. The green fertile fronds grow out of the brown papery like fronds.
Piper crocatum vine
There were birds in cages. I saw a little girl who was so excited to see the birds. She obviously had been there before and knew right where they were.

An adorable bird
Chenille plant
Spanish moss or Tillandsia usneoides hanging down

This was a beautiful conservatory filled with plants, some I've never seen before. I will be writing posts about these plants in the coming weeks. I hope you enjoyed walking through the conservatory with me. Remember to visit your local conservatory. You never know what you will find!
A beautiful palm


4 comments:

  1. Hi, I always enjoy following your blog on this site and the one on FB...Thanks for all the info and pictures...Thanks, R. Odell

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    1. Thanks so much dellob! Do you have a conservatory near you that visit?

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  2. These are some great images from Ohio conservatory. I need to get down there and check it out myself. Thank you for sharing - I love the container arrangement ( as I shared on Google + ). The white germanium sticking out on that container I'm not sure about but the rest is awesome!

    Can't wait till spring ......

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    1. Thanks, Bren! It is a wonderful place and a hidden jewel.

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