Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

October 25, 2002

Tropical plants, butterflies populate new conservatory


Photos by Bob Elbert.	When the new Reiman Gardens Conservatory opens on Nov. 5, the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing will have between 1,000 and 1,500 newly hatched butterflies in flight. The photos show the process of hatching some of the 435 species that will be featured.

by Debra Gibson
Winter in Iowa is anything but tropical unless you're basking in the balmy environs of the new Reiman Gardens Conservatory and Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing, due to open to the public Nov. 5. The $9.6 million project has been under construction for 2 1/2 years, and was funded by private donations. The butterfly house is named for the mother of Roy Reiman, an Iowa State alumnus and primary benefactor of the university's Reiman Gardens.

The 5,000-square-foot indoor conservatory will display about 500 tropical plants from more than 100 varieties. Staff members Sandy Latta, glass house manager, and Ed Moran, assistant garden superintendent, spent a week in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to choose the conservatory's plants, as well as the 400 plants from 50 different species located in the butterfly wing.

"Interestingly enough, you won't see any palms or ficus trees in the butterfly wing," Moran said during a recent tour. "The USDA has strict regulations on what we can and cannot include, but we will display some plants throughout the complex that are rare or endangered." Aquatic plants also will be featured in the conservatory, Moran said, including a vibrant flowering purple tropical water lily on display during a recent tour.

"We're just waiting to see how well flowers like this will bloom, especially during the winter," Moran explained. "No one seems to have much experience growing these in glass houses."

Several shows are being planned for the conservatory, with the first the fall festival set to open Nov. 5. According to Moran, on display will be "mostly mums (about 8,000 blooms), with some Mexican sagebrush, grasses, corn, sorghum everything that represents the harvest."

The holiday show later this year will feature poinsettias, Moran said, gleaned from 35 to 40 poinsettia varieties tested last year. This year's holiday plants have been grown from California cuttings, beginning back in June. Reindeer topiaries also will be a highlight of the holiday show.

Producing such shows requires initial designs, then intricate plotting to determine growing timelines. "It gets pretty crazy deciding all these production schedules," Moran admitted. He and student interns rely on computer databases to track the hundreds of plants in production throughout the facility's five greenhouses. Elaborate computer systems also run the lights, temperature and humidity levels within the greenhouses, even lowering and raising shade cloths at designated times and producing fog.

Both the conservatory (complete with waterfall) and the butterfly wing (which is actually shaped like a wing) will be maintained at a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit to guarantee healthy plants and butterflies.

Rounding out the complex will be an 80-seat caf known as "Hazel's Kitchen" and a gift shop. (For more information on the butterfly wing, see story above.)

The conservatory complex will be open year-round from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. (The glass houses will be closed on Mondays for maintenance.)

Admission to Reiman Gardens, including the conservatory and butterfly wing, is $5 for adults ages 19 to 64 (those over 65 pay $4.50), $2 for ages 7 to 18, and free to current ISU students, children ages 6 and under and Reiman Gardens CoHorts members.