{"id":391,"date":"2012-06-12T13:03:18","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T21:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=391"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:33","slug":"phipps-conservatory-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/phipps-conservatory-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Phipps Conservatory"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>Pittsburgh is a city built partly on a foundation of steel\u2014or at least the money derived from its manufacture.\u00a0 Nineteenth century industrialists like Andrew Carnegie amassed fortunes from steel made in the corner of Pennsylvania defined by three rivers: the Allegheny, the Monongahela and the offspring of their union, the Ohio.\u00a0 Today the philanthropy of those early millionaires lives on all over Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Henry Phipps, Jr. began as a bookkeeper for Andrew Carnegie and ended his business career as the second largest shareholder in Carnegie Steel, the predecessor of U.S. Steel.\u00a0 After selling his stock and retiring from business, Phipps turned to philanthropy.\u00a0 That philanthropy flowered\u2014literally and figuratively–when he donated the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden to the City of Pittsburgh in 1893.<\/p>\n

The Conservatory is still going strong almost one hundred twenty years later.\u00a0 It stands in Schenley Park, a large urban oasis, close to the campuses of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n

I have visited some of the greatest botanical institutions in the world, and each has its own distinct attractions.\u00a0 The Phipps can stand among them as one of the most beautiful, whimsical and innovative I have ever seen.\u00a0 The main, domed Conservatory building was constructed by Lord and Burnham of New York., the firm that was also responsible for the creation of the Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden.\u00a0 Even back in the days of cheap labor, Phipps\u2019 great gift to Pittsburgh was pricey, costing $100,000.\u00a0 In an early example of recycling, the original tropical plants were imported from Chicago, where they had been featured in that city\u2019s great Columbian Exposition.<\/p>\n

Over the decades, the Conservatory has changed, with a modern welcome center added to the building\u2019s front in 2005.\u00a0 Another addition, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, is currently under construction and will ultimately showcase all the ways in which a great botanical institution can adapt to the environmental needs and concerns of the twenty-first century.<\/p>\n

Like most botanical showcases, the Phipps is divided into a series of \u00a0rooms or areas that feature different plant families, climate conditions and special themes.\u00a0 One of my favorites, the Desert Room, is home to an impressive array of cactuses, many of which were in bloom during our visit.\u00a0 The spiky nature of the desert denizens was echoed in a spiky looking golden chandelier by glass artist Dale Chihuly.\u00a0 Other Chihuly works, including large, complex chandeliers, were scattered around the various Conservatory rooms.\u00a0 The pieces that were positioned among plants were keyed to the surrounding specimens and added a dimension to the whole, rather than overpowering it.<\/p>\n

I am a push-over for butterflies, so I was enchanted by the butterfly exhibit in the Stove Room.\u00a0 The warm space was filled with butterfly food and larval plants and butterflies swirled around visitors.\u00a0 In addition to easily identifiable varieties like the Monarch, I saw the Zebra Longwing, with its flashy yellow and black striped wings; the Giant Swallowtail, a very large, black-winged butterfly with bands of yellow spots and characteristic \u201ctails\u201d; and the flashy Peacock, with black, blue and yellow eye spots on both upper and lower wings.<\/p>\n

Another impressive area is the Broderie Garden, which is arranged as a French-style parterre or patterned layout, which is best viewed from above.\u00a0 The symmetrical arrangement of shaped beds is accented by tall Cyprus trees and set among paved walkways.\u00a0 Each bed is filled with a carefully arranged array of colorful seasonal flowers.\u00a0 Parterres like the one at Phipps are meant to mimic the pattern and colors of tapestry.\u00a0 The name \u201cbroderie\u201d is the French term for embroidery.<\/p>\n

Phipps is unique for the quality of whimsy that pervades every area and seems to be part of the natural order there.\u00a0 On our visit, the Palm Court, which serves as an entrance to the various plant galleries, was dominated by a \u201cwine cellar fountain\u201d that consisted of a tall rack filled with wine bottles, some of which doubled as fountainheads, spouting water into the basin below.\u00a0 The Tropical Fruit and Spice Room, home to spice and food plants from around the world, showcased the traditional value of green tea with a display containing a giant, flower-filled teacup, complete with teabag and spoon.\u00a0 Large and small water features abound in almost every area, including one in the Discovery Garden that incorporated a circle of children\u2019s watering cans.<\/p>\n

The Phipps only downside is that it does not have as much uncovered garden space as some other botanical institutions.\u00a0 We were not able to walk through the Outdoor Garden because two back-to-back weddings were being held in the space.\u00a0 This may be one drawback of visiting on a Saturday in June.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t get to the Phipps Conservatory, you can still take a short visit by clicking on http:\/\/www.phipps.conservatory.org<\/a>.\u00a0 From the home page you can access the \u201cPhipps Online Tour.\u201d\u00a0 It will give you a tantalizing taste of the flowering of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh is a city built partly on a foundation of steel\u2014or at least the money derived from its manufacture.\u00a0 Nineteenth century industrialists like Andrew Carnegie amassed fortunes from steel made in the corner of Pennsylvania defined by three rivers: the Allegheny, the Monongahela and the offspring of their union, the Ohio.\u00a0 Today the philanthropy of … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,21,22,18,19],"class_list":["post-391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","tag-botanical-gardens","tag-botanical-institutions","tag-chihuly","tag-phipps-conservatory","tag-pittsburgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}