It's Always Summer inside the Seymour Conservatory

I usually visit Seymour Conservatory during the winter months when it's cold outside and a visit to the tropical warmth inside is a mini vacation from the cold.   Late last month, I decided to see what goes on in there when it's equally warm outside.

Outdoor bed of tuberous begonias.  

Shade cloth over the wings of the place are a sure sign that it's summer. 

My begonias struggled with powdery mildew this year.  Even with weekly spraying, most of them eventually looked pretty sad.  It was nice to see so many disease-free specimens.

There are permanent residents of the greenhouse which are joined by seasonally blooming plants brought in from off-site greenhouses. 

The orchid collection was joined by tuberous begonias recently.  

I'm grateful to have such a wonderful place so close to home  (About a five minute walk.) but wish that there was better plant identification.  If you're going to have permanent labels made, why not tell us what agave this is instead of labeling it Century Plant (Agave.)  No one at the conservatory is able to identify it. 

The warmest tropical wing has been severely reduced in size as they're adding restrooms and also additional space for something other than plants.  The thrust seems to be toward using this as an event space.  Public restrooms already exist just down the hill in the park that surrounds the conservatory. Whatever.

Will these be the restrooms or the entrance to the new space?  Construction seems to be going at a glacial pace.  

Interesting.

I was tempted to bring a couple of these home but think that reducing rather than increasing the number of begonias in my garden might help me control the mildew problem better.

Swoon!

Time to head back out.  While there were a lot of beautiful things to see,  for me, the appeal of the conservatory is much greater in the seasons when much less is happening outside garden-wise.