Originally published in the February 12, 2008 edition of The Lantern. It is posted here unedited.
This happens every year.
Like clockwork, at the end of each winter I abandon my belief that the blustery winds of February are important. I get tired of reminding myself that, without them, the cool breeze of spring wouldn’t seem so cool. I’d even venture to say that the philosophical adage of balance being essential to harmony in life doesn’t often come off the wind-chapped lips of Ohio State students trudging across the oval.
Despite my bitterness, though, it’s all true.
Winter is a good reminder that for sweet to be sweet, we need the sour.
But we might not be as powerless to the elements as we think.
At 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, for instance, when the 40 MPH wind gusts were whipping across campus, making the already bleak 14-degree morning bleaker, I was cheating. In just a T-shirt and jeans, I was sniffing exotic orchids in a Pacific Island water garden with the sounds of Macaws and waterfalls at my back.
The best part about it? Not only was I stone-sober and not dreaming, but I was in Columbus and only five miles from my front door.
Unbeknownst to most students, the Franklin Park Conservatory at 1777 E. Broad St. offers springtime year round. The historic greenhouse and nature center houses some 400 different plant species, all well-worth the $6 student entry fee.
Through February, the conservatory is showcasing an orchid forest exhibit that all but fills the left side of the complex with thousands of colorful and hard-to-pronounce flowers. Snaking around the stone-lined walkways are banana trees and rare-palms, and hiding behind one corner is a waterfall that feeds into a Koi-filled Japanese pond.
And that’s just one exhibit.
Enclosed in the 7,000 panes of glass are a tropical rainforest, a chilly Himalayan mountain and an arid desert, all complete with their native plant species, which range from the backyard regulars (chrysanthemums and tulips) to the far rarer types (a 350-year-old Bonsai tree).
In each corner of the Palm House, one the conservatory’s biggest greenhouse exhibits, sit cast-iron gazebos with benches surrounded by plant life. On my Sunday morning trip, this was the perfect place to finish my coffee and reflect. And when I looked up from my shaded bench, I realized my favorite thing about the entire experience has very little to do with plants.
The conservatory is the only public botanical garden in the world to own a collection of glasswork by the Godfather of Glass himself, Dale Chihuly. (He’s the guy that made the trippy glasswork mounted to the wall on the first floor of the Science and Engineering Library).
There are more than 3,000 individual pieces of Chihuly glasswork inside the complex, with 10 or more featured prominently within the exhibits. This is the same guy who was commissioned to blow the glass for the ceiling at the Bellagio and to line the canals of Venice. Having such a large collection by him is certainly worth boasting, and the conservatory isn’t ignorant of that.
If it’s complete isolation and oneness with nature that you’re looking for, I’d recommend going early on a weekday. My trip was only moderately burdened by kids running amok inside the gardens, but that was to be expected on a weekend.
But if your schedule won’t permit you leaving campus to have a little springtime in February, just climb the stairs to the roof of the West 12th Avenue parking garage near the Medical Center.
There’s a greenhouse up there, too, where winter will wait at the door.
