Seattle: Volunteer Park Conservatory

 The Volunteer Park Conservatory within Volunteer Park is a beautiful greenhouse filled with a fantastic array of local and maybe some not so local fauna. It is immaculately tended too and is a great way to experience some lovely plant life. There is normally a fee, however we stumbled upon a free day.

Location:1400 E Galer St, Seattle, WA 98112
Time Needed: About a half hour
Cost: Normally $4.00 per adult. We stumbled upon free day. First Thursday of every month.

It’s an old Victorian era greenhouse. which made me think of the one I saw in San Francisco many, many years ago.

Pretty ferns.

Some stunning orchids.

Bird of paradise. My moms favorite. These bloom weirdly.

More orchids.

Coleus. We have these in our garden.

Ancient ferns.

Cute waterfall.

With a little pool.

OMG! They have pitcher plants!!!

I will come back to this, they are on the other side.

That one is interesting.

Oh, this one is super pretty.

The greenhouse.

This one is cute.

Another cool plant.

This one holds a little pool of water.

Weird.

Back to the pitcher plants.

These plants are carnivorous, which means they eat bugs. How these guys do it is they release an odor that attracts insects and the rim around the top is slippery which causes insects to slip and fall inside to be digested. Then there are downward pointing hairs that prevent insects from climbing back out.

Its hard to tell in this shot, but this one appears to have a meal.

The rim. I have always been fascinated with carnivorous plants so sorry, nerded out a little.

I am not 100% sure but this looks like Sarracenia, which are the most common pitcher plant in North America.

Ant Plant.

It is symbiotic in that it provides a place for ants to make homes, and then it sends its root into them to feed of the ants waste.

The greenhouse again.

Another little waterfall and pool.

Back to the ancient looking fern.

So the green house is 3 rooms, and the way they have designed it with plants in the middle and on the sides is to go one way.

Oh haha, they look ancient because they are ancient.

Pretty pink things.

Ferns.

These orchids look like crazy birds.

More ferns.

Loving the purple.

The last room is the cactus room.

Pretty flowering one.

Couple interesting ones that I have never seen before.

I might be wrong, but I don’t think these are cacti, but also desert plants.

Different levels of pokiness.

Interesting flowers.

Neat tree.

More various plants.

Fuzzy cacti.

*My inner 12 year old* snort.

Back to the beginning.

Back to the central chamber.

More greenery.

Various coleus and other plants.

More ferns.

The pretty purple flowers again.

Pretty flowers.

The garden outside is very pretty too.

The entrance.

Well that was fun. Some interesting plants, and I particularly enjoyed seeing some pitcher plants. And it wasn’t too busy today, which is always nice. Plus we happened upon free day.