FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Nina Sazevich, nina911@pacbell.net, (415) 752-2483

Flower Power Returns to San Francisco
The Conservatory of Flowers Reopens on September 20

SAN FRANCISCO (September 8, 2003) - San Francisco is about to become a real jungle, and we're not talking about traffic problems and protests. Soon Bay Area residents will be able to journey to the steamy heart of the Congo, the misty cloud forests of Costa Rica and the lush islands of the Philippines in one quick bus ride out to Golden Gate Park.

The beloved Conservatory of Flowers reopens on Saturday, September 20, 2003 after 8 years of closure and rehabilitation. With a brand new $4 million program of horticultural exhibits and floral displays, the Conservatory joins a distinctive circle of modern American horticultural museums that are on the cutting edge of botanical interpretation and conservation education.

In this spectacular museum of living plants, immersive displays in five galleries will engage visitors physically, intellectually and emotionally. These splendid displays will not only delight, but will deliver a moving message about the rapid changes in tropical habitats worldwide and efforts currently underway to conserve these special places.

A visit to the Conservatory starts in the ENTRY WAY, a newly appointed gallery that serves as a gathering space where visitors will be greeted by volunteers. Here, an introductory exhibit of photographs, documents and objects brings to life the history of the Conservatory of Flowers.

Exiting the Entry Way and walking into the Dome, visitors will experience the steamy and lush jungles of the LOWLAND TROPICS. High overhead, a light rain falls on the canopy of palms and the century-old giant philodendron. The stump of an enormous kapok tree lies on the ground while falling water cascades through the foliage around it. Large and colorful fruits hang heavily from branches, and sweet fragrances mingle in the air.

Here in the LOWLAND TROPICS, the Conservatory will feature a wide variety of economic plants in order to educate the public about the tropical products they eat and use in the home every day. Visitors will marvel at chocolate, coffee, vanilla, cashew nuts and other favorites "in the wild."

LOWLAND TROPICS is also home to the Conservatory's centenarians, the oldest and most valuable plants in the collection. These include the giant Imperial Philodendron that is 100 years old this year. This majestic beauty towers over the exhibit with its canopy of enormous leaves. This gallery will also be home to the Conservatory's cycads, primitive gymnosperms that predate the dinosaurs and first appear in the geological record about 170 to 180 million years ago.

Entering the East Wing of the Conservatory, visitors will notice the temperature drop significantly in the HIGHLAND TROPICS. Here, in the misty cloud forests of tropical mountaintops, hundreds of delicate orchids grow off of the bark of gnarled trees. Dense mosses engulf rocks, and ferns grow in abundance. Crawling vines make their way through a forest of stunted trees.

The Conservatory of Flowers is one of only four institutions in the U.S. to feature a highland tropics display. This unique exhibit will be a highlight of a visit to the Conservatory. A primary feature of the HIGHLAND TROPICS will be the Conservatory's large and renowned collection of high-altitude orchids, which will be publicly displayed for the first time when it reopens.

HIGHLAND TROPICS will also include beautifully handcrafted orchid cases designed and built by local architectural designer/artisan Gene DeSmidt. These cases resemble antique Victorian armoires and will house some of the most valuable orchids in the collection.

Continuing east, visitors enter the magical world of AQUATIC PLANTS. Beautiful pools of water cascade one into the other filling the gallery with the sound of rushing water. Fountains send playful arches of water over the giant lilies and flowers floating on the surface. Visitors linger on a sparkling glass bridge to admire the pools. A giant art glass and metal lily plant hangs suspended in the air, the fine architecture of its leaf glowing in the light.

It was at the Conservatory of Flowers that a special aquatic plant made its North American debut in the 1880s. Victoria amazonica is a giant amongst water lilies and will be a primary feature of AQUATIC PLANTS. Their leaves can grow to six feet in diameter and can support the weight of a small child.

This gallery will also feature a collection of carnivorous plants including Nepenthes, the Asian pitcher plant. The Asian pitcher plant family is the only group of carnivorous plants that vines. Their alluring tube-like pitchers secrete a fluid rich in enzymes that lure unsuspecting critters in. The pitcher plant then digests (dissolves) whatever snacks fall in.

Walking back through the east wing and through the dome, visitors enter the west wing of the Conservatory and POTTED PLANTS. Opening with a stunning autumn-themed display of flowering favorites such as gloxinias and hibiscus, this gallery will feature seasonal floral displays planted in an incredible assortment of decorative urns and containers from all over the world.

These containers include a historic urn from San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a whole assortment of beautiful copper containers with parrot-shaped handles from Karnataka, India, tall and slender Javanese palm pots, hand-incised ceramic pots from Burkina Faso and many, many more.

Continuing west, visitors enter the final gallery for SPECIAL EXHIBITS. Here young and old alike will learn something new and different each time they visit the Conservatory. In addition to presenting seasonal floral displays with a San Francisco flair, SPECIAL EXHIBITS will house "mini-blockbuster" exhibits themed around particular plant groups or plant attributes. The first two exhibits to presented in this gallery are All A-Buzz, a powered-by-flower exhibit about plant pollination and Plants by Prescription, an exhibit that will focus on plants used medicinally in countries all over the world.

Background
The Conservatory of Flowers has been a San Francisco icon since it was erected in 1879. The 12,000 square-foot Victorian greenhouse is the oldest existing public conservatory in the Western Hemisphere. The rehabilitation of the Conservatory began with spontaneous donations from private citizens after severe windstorms in 1995 damaged the already fragile structure. Designated as a city, state and national historic landmark, the Conservatory of Flowers is an official project of Save America's Treasures, a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Conservatory rehabilitation is managed by a partnership between Friends of Recreation & Parks (the nonprofit agency that supports San Francisco's parks, open spaces, and recreation programs), San Francisco Recreation & Park Department and Department of Public Works.

Note: images available: here

Media interviews and tour available by request and arrangement.