San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers – Part II

Continuation of my post on the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.

Most of the orchids live in this room:

The tropical climate in this room creates a balmy and misty atmosphere which insisted on fogging up my camera lens time and time again. Please forgive my fuzzy photos.

The orchid cabinets are a dream, but the orchids are the real stars:

Unless you are a bromeliad fan:

This one has translucent leaves:

The Nepenthes pitcher plants were creepy, yet beautiful. A sign nearby says that these plants live in environments where the competition for food is fierce, so their leaves evolved into honey-glanded pitchers designed to capture and digest gnats, flies, or moths. But the Conservatory’s website cites that they also may capture a bird, frog or small rodent. Eek! Little Shop of Horrors!

According to the website Carl Linnaeus, he named them Nepenthes recalling Homer's Odyssey and the drug ‘Nepenthe’ that Helen of Troy poured into the soldier's wine to alleviate their sorrow and grief. Linnaeus felt the Nepenthes had a similar affect on botanists.”

Any botanists out there affected the same way?

That’s all for now, next time I will show you the artwork in this room and more plants.

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers – Part I

Late Sunday afternoon, after a day of helping out our mother at her apartment building, my sister and I decided to give ourselves a pat on the back by rewarding ourselves with walk around Golden Gate Park. We decided to go to the Conservatory of Flowers since my sister had not been since the completion of the $25 million reconstruction project in 2003.

The Conservatory has interesting roots. It was found, still in crates, amongst the effects of the richest man in California, James Lick, after he passed away in 1876. After prominent San Francisco businessmen purchased the Conservatory from the Lick Estate, they donated it to the Park Commission of San Francisco. By 1879 the Victorian structure was erected and the Conservatory was open to the public.

Even though the structure has seen two fires, in 1883 and 1918, and suffered severe damage from a windstorm in 1995 which closed the structure for eight years, it survived the 1906 earthquake.

The Victorian architecture features plenty of gingerbread details: 

The dome looks great from the outside:

And the inside:

 

Their floors are divine:

Their signage is beautiful:

They have a some lovely displays:

and impressive displays of epiphytes:

This is just a sneak peek, next time I’ll show you lots of flowers. Watch this (blog)spot!