Oak Park Conservatory facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Oak Park Conservatory
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 Location in Illinois
Location in the United States
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| Location | 615 Garfield St., Oak Park, Illinois |
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| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1929 |
| Built by | Foley Greenhouse Manufacturing Co. |
| Architectural style | Edwardian Glasshouse |
| NRHP reference No. | 04001298 |
| Added to NRHP | March 8, 2005 |
The Oak Park Conservatory is a special indoor garden, also known as a conservatory, located in Oak Park, Illinois. It's a place where you can see many different kinds of plants from all over the world. You can find it at 615 Garfield Street. The conservatory is open every day, and it's free to visit, though donations are welcome.
Contents
History of the Conservatory
The idea for the Oak Park Conservatory began in 1914. People in the community wanted a place to keep the unique plants they collected during their travels.
Building the Glasshouse
The beautiful glass building you see today was built in 1929. It's designed in the Edwardian style, which was popular a long time ago. For a while, the conservatory wasn't well cared for. But in 1970, a group of people who cared deeply about it stepped in to save it. Some even thought the land should become a parking lot! Thanks to these volunteers, the conservatory was saved.
Growing and Learning
The conservatory does more than just display plants. It also grows plants for all the parks in Oak Park. Plus, it's a place where students and gardeners can learn about plants and nature. The building was made bigger in 2000. Now, it has about 8,000 square feet of growing space. This makes it the third largest conservatory in the Chicago area. It holds over 3,000 plants, and some of them have been there since 1914! On March 8, 2005, the Oak Park Conservatory was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. This means it's recognized as an important historical site.
Modern Updates
In 2019, the conservatory celebrated its 90th birthday! To help the environment and save money, they added solar panels to the roof. These panels help power the building and reduce carbon pollution. They also added three beehives. Bees are important for pollinating plants, which helps them grow. Five large tanks were installed to collect rainwater. This water is used for the plants inside the conservatory and for other plants in the village during summer. A special system was also set up to make "compost tea." This helps make the soil in the greenhouses healthier for the plants.
Amazing Plant Collections
The Oak Park Conservatory has different rooms, each filled with plants from specific climates.
Desert Plants
One room is home to the desert collection. Here, you'll find many types of cacti, like Cereus and Opuntia. There are also other succulent plants, such as Agave, Crassula, and Kalanchoe. You can also see woody plants that grow in dry areas, like olive trees, fig trees, and date palms.
Orchids and Ferns
Another collection features beautiful orchids and many kinds of ferns. These include large Australian tree ferns and other ferns from warm, tropical places. You'll also find plants like begonias, lemon trees, and the colorful Strelitzia reginae, also known as the bird of paradise flower.
Rainforest Plants
The rainforest collection is full of plants that love humid, warm environments. You can see banana plants, cycads, and many types of palms. There are also papaya trees and spider plants. In this room, you'll find a pond with koi fish, goldfish, and turtles swimming around.
Plants for the Community
Besides these special collections, the conservatory grows about 20,000 bedding plants each year. These plants are then used to decorate public parks and other places throughout Oak Park.
The Century Plant
The conservatory has a special plant called agave americana, often called the "century plant." It gets this name because it takes many years, sometimes decades, to bloom. When it does bloom, a tall flower stalk shoots up. Twice since 1980, this stalk grew taller than the greenhouse roof! To make space, parts of the glass roof had to be removed. When it blooms, you can even see the plant from nearby roads. In 2013, a strong storm broke the plant's stem. As is normal for these plants, it died after blooming.
Friends of the Conservatory
The Oak Park Conservatory has a team of professional staff. But it also has many dedicated volunteers who help out. They are known as the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory, or FOPCON. This group started in 1986. Since then, they have raised over $840,000 to help improve the conservatory.
Volunteer Activities
FOPCON volunteers organize a big plant sale every May. This sale helps raise money for the conservatory. Gardeners can find many interesting plants there, all grown without pesticides in the conservatory's greenhouses. The volunteers also host two "perennial plant exchanges" each year, one in spring and one in fall. Gardeners can bring healthy plants from their own gardens and trade them for different plants brought by others. In June, FOPCON also holds a "garden walk," where people can tour beautiful local gardens as another way to raise funds. The volunteers also lead tours of the conservatory for groups and schools, sharing their knowledge about the plants.
See also
In Spanish: Oak Park Conservatory para niños
