Photo of the Day: Korean Hornbeam, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh PA

When I visited Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens on a trip to Pittsburgh a year ago, I was enthralled by the vast variety of flowers and plants in this wonderful site. One of the visual delights that I photographed then was the Korean Hornbeam, a deciduous tree native to North America and Asia. Slow-growing, this is considered a fine specimen for beginning bonsai enthusiasts.

Photo of the Day: Cymbidium Golden Vanguard, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh PA

I photographed this orchid while at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh last October. I am sure that the Orchid Room at this local treasure would be appreciated by perhaps the most famous orchid lover in fiction, Rex Stout’s private detective Nero Wolfe, who kept a greenhouse on the top floor of his New York brownstone residence. 

Warm- to cool-growing, the yellow beauty in this picture blooms from early summer through early winter. It is best to water it once a week in summer but every 10 days in winter.

I am sorry that Pittsburgh residents and visitors won’t have the chance to visit Phipps—at least for a while—due to the coronavirus. It presents, in every room, what every person needs a reminder of: the beauty of God’s handiwork in nature.

Photo of the Day: European Fan Palm, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh PA

I took this photograph of this unusual palm while visiting Phipps Conservatory on a vacation to Pittsburgh last October.

Sometimes called the Mediterranean fan palm, this the European fan palm, as you can see here, can really spread out—6 to 10 feet wide. What this picture doesn’t show is how hardy this is. Established palms of this kind can survive temperatures to 10 degrees or even lower, and are drought-resistant, as well.

Photo of the Day: Screw Pine, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh PA

This past October, among the many exotic and beautiful sights of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, I came across the screw pine. It’s a novelty plant that grows best in a tropical environment.

Photo of the Day: Bottle Palm, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh PA

Much like the last decade, 2019 contained a multitude of moments of unsurpassed personal ugliness. But I could not say goodbye to the past year without taking note of beauty that went against the grain. 

That beauty was physical rather than emotional, in the form of the species popularly known as the “Bottle Palm.” But any group that can maintain this and the other specimens on display at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh can’t be all bad.

(For more on the conservatory, a gem of the city of Pittsburgh, please see this prior post of mine.)

Photo of the Day: Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh PA

A highlight of my week of vacation in Pittsburgh in October was a visit to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. In the past few years, perhaps partly as a result of my growing interest in photography, I have become increasingly taken with botanical gardens. But I must say that I was especially in this one. 

Everywhere I looked at this 125-year-old institution in the city’s Oakland neighborhood, I marveled at another example of beauty in its 14-room glasshouse and 22 gardens. Over the next several weeks, I plan to post a number of photos I took during that visit.

Phipps has impressed many more people than me, however. Increasingly in the last few years, it has become an institutional leader in sustainability through seasonal flower shows, commissioned exhibits, orchid and bonsai collections and more. I think it is one of the jewels of Pittsburgh.