Tag Archives: Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

December 29, 2022 · 9:02 am

A winter visit to the conservatory

It’s one of my favorite things to do during winter! We haven’t been to the conservatory since before everything shut down in early 2020. And naturally, things are different now. Advance reservations are required. Oh wait, now I remember that we made reservations at one point in the last almost 3 years. But something came up and we weren’t able to make it. You can make reservations the day of, which is what I did. There were plenty of openings throughout the day about 3 hours prior to opening.

We’re over our 10 plus days of deep freeze and I thought it would be nice to visit the conservatory while it’s relatively nice. Highs are in the 30s now which feels absolutely BALMY compared to what we’ve had since before Christmas. So I ditched the winter coat because I didn’t want to be carrying it around with me. I wore a bulky sweatshirt with my down vest which was nearly perfect. Hubby also wore his vest. It was a tad chilly between the car and the building but we did okay!

We used to enter at the doors to the conservatory where you used to be able to hang your coat. Those days are gone, at least for now while they require reservations. You now enter through the Visitors Center where they scan your bar code for your time slot. And because we entered at a different spot than what used to be normal, our first room was the fern room.

We then wandered around to the different areas of the conservatory. It’s so warm and tropical in there and it smells divine! You feel transported to the tropics in the middle of winter. Ah…….

Next up: the sunken gardens. It was beautiful but neither of us expected it to be all white. The room was also filled with the aroma of one of those flowers, probably those smaller blooms on long stems. I believe they are paperwhites.

Various photos from other rooms.

We ended at the Tropical Encounters Exhibit where many beautiful birds were flying around. There is also a huge fish tank with many varieties to peruse and other containers with snakes, frogs and a tarantula! At the end of this exhibit is a sloth. He tries to camouflage himself but I found him!!! And he moved a little bit while we stood there.

If you’re in the twin cities area, do pay a visit to the conservatory. It’s such a nice break from winter!! There is also a zoo but that is mostly outdoors and we didn’t venture over there. But many kids with their parents were checking it out. Here’s a link to their website in case anybody is interested.

I’m working on my “year in photos” for 2022 so stay tuned for that post coming soon!

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Tagged as Como Park Conservatory, Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, photography, travel

February 1, 2020 · 8:01 am

Winter Carnival Orchid Show

Every year the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory located in Como Park, St. Paul, has an orchid show during St. Paul’s winter carnival, typically the third weekend in January. I try to make it every year even though it’s very popular which means it’s very crowded. I thought I was being smart by getting there just a few minutes before it opened at 10:00. Um, not!! As we approached the conservatory on Estabrook Drive cars were already parking on the street. I thought for sure we’d get a spot in the parking lot as we always have before. Wrong again! The parking lot was completely full this time so we went back to the beginning and parked even further down the street than when we first passed it a few minutes earlier. Next year we’re going 30 minutes early and we’ll wait in the car! It worked out, obviously, so without further ado, below are some galleries of not just gorgeous orchids but other beauty contained within the conservatory.

I’m going to split the galleries up a little bit. First, some photos of plants and flowers other than orchids.

I know of one couple who got married here.

beautiful bromeliad

one of my favorite walkways

red ginger bloom

red ginger bloom up close

a pruned ficus

pruned ficus further away

fern room path

Next, some photos of “general” orchid views.

Finally, some close up photos of the exquisite orchids that I photographed. I couldn’t capture them all, there were just too many people. But, as always, it was so worth it just to feel a bit of the tropics on a winter day and to view beautiful flowers.

love this delicate yellow

And my favorite of the group, nice and large.

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February 7, 2016 · 2:01 pm

My 4th blogoversary!!

And I’m still here! Thank you to all my wonderful followers and all the “likes” over the years. I appreciate it very much. Similar to past years’ posts about my blogoversary, below are some of my favorite posts as well as the most popular posts as defined by the number of likes they received. Similar to last year’s post I’m going to link the favorite and popular posts and end with a gallery of favorite photos from those posts. I hope you all enjoy. Here’s to another year of blogging!

First off, some popular posts for the weekly photo challenge. This challenge was entitled Orange and as you can see, I have many orange photos. One of my own personal favorites Early Bird which contains some favorite sunrise photos. And this one was by far the most popular in terms of likes. Again, thank you my lovely followers and photo lovers. Entitled Intricate, it’s mostly made up of photos from Spain where there is an abundance of intricate tile work and architecture. One last weekly photo challenge post, this theme was called Muse where I focused on flowers and sunsets.

Next, some of you know that last March together with my sister and my daughter, we packed up my mother’s apartment and moved her to Virginia to live with my sister. I enjoyed putting together Memories from my mother’s life, a photographic tour of many of the photos we found while packing. A companion to this one was Duets with my sister. Whenever the two of us get together we always play duets and our mother really enjoys this so we found time amidst all the packing, sorting and tossing to play duets. One last post from that trip is a restaurant review of The Cheesecake Factory in Pembroke Pines where my mother lived. My daughter had never been there before and we enjoyed it so much that we went back for our final dinner while in Florida.

A few posts from last summer include one I did on summer gardening. I also found time to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory while the water lilies were in bloom. I need to make sure and see those every year, they are so beautiful!! And then our annual trip to the Minnesota State Fair that I posted at the end of summer. A must for this family!

Last fall I took care of my mother so that my sister and her husband could take a week’s vacation to celebrate their 25th anniversary. I was able to take a trip to our nation’s capital and enjoyed visiting the National Gallery of Art. I also met a blogger friend there and we had a marvelous time both at the museum as well as a fabulous lunch at Oyamel Cocina Mexicana afterwards. It was a quick trip but well worth it!

Three last posts that I’d like to share, the first is our annual trip to the conservatory during the winter. It’s such a nice escape from winter, truly a breath of fresh air that leaves us feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the rest of winter. In May I went to Art-a-Whirl, where local artists let the public into their studios. It was so interesting and fun that I’m going back again this year! So, stay tuned for another Art-a-Whirl post this May.

To close I’m sharing a post from last weekend’s visit to our fantastic conservatory, this time for the annual orchid show. Such gorgeous flowers! And I hope you’ll enjoy it again if you’ve already seen it. And if you missed it, well, here’s your chance to see it. I had fun putting it together.

As promised, here’s a gallery of some of my favorite photos from last year. Enjoy!!

spring

fox glove close-up

amaryllis

my parents,early to mid 40s

my mother’s parents, possibly their wedding day 1917

she decided to smile!

Cheesecake Factory

colorful flowers filled this wall-Art a Whirl, Minneapolis

the interesting square from above-Art a Whirl, Minneapolis

sunset at the cabin

pink coneflower

Como Park

water lilies at Como Park

from the sky ride-MN state fair

crop art is 50 years old-MN state fair

fair goers

Oyamel Cocina Mexicana

bloggers unite

One of my favorites by Renoir

a famous Monet

Little Dancer by Degas, National Gallery of Art

late autumn in MN

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory annual orchid show, January 2016

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January 31, 2016 · 12:42 pm

Orchid show! and WPC – Vibrant

I don’t always see the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival Orchid Show every year. But I do try to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory once each winter to get a breath of the tropics and to escape winter even if just for an hour. It is truly heaven on earth inside the conservatory! If you’re interested, here are a couple of posts from previous years’ visits: 2015 and 2014. Today’s visit was a bit unusual in that it’s typically bitterly cold outside and cloudy. While I am thoroughly enjoying the sunshine today, it did make it harder to get good photos but I did get a few.

When I saw the theme for this week’s photo challenge I knew exactly what I wanted to enter for it. Please enjoy my photographic tour of this year’s Orchid Show! Click on each gallery to see larger images.

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory annual orchid show, January 2016

sunken gardens

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Tagged as Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, orchids, photography, post a day, post a week, postaday, St. Paul winter carnival, weekly photo challenge

February 1, 2015 · 1:57 pm

Winter visit to the conservatory 2015

Each winter we try to make at least one trip to our beloved conservatory that is just down the street a piece. It’s the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, formerly known as the Como Conservatory and it’s located in Como Park in St. Paul, MN. If you’d like to checkout my posts from the last two years’ visits, you can find them here and here.

This year’s visit was perfectly timed in that the temp was 12 when we left the house. It’s a bit windy today so the wind that blew in our faces as we ran to the entrance probably made it feel like 5. BRRRR!!! We felt much better in the warmth of the conservatory and then waited a few minutes for our glasses to defog.

As usual, we saw many beautiful flowers and plants. I also see something new each time I visit. For example, I had never seen the “hairy” bark of a palm tree before. There’s a photo of it in the mix below. I hope you’ll enjoy today’s visit with me while I show you what I saw.

We started in the sunken garden where it’s already spring.

a popular wedding spot

amaryllis

rhododendrun

some kind of lily?

bleeding hearts – will be a few months before we see these in our garden

another beautiful lily

fox glove

fox glove close-up

No visit is complete without seeing the fern room.

Then of course there are the lovely orchids that are found throughout the different rooms. They are so beautiful. Which is your favorite orchid?

an orchid in the conservatory at Como Park

We always enjoy the bonsai room:

And then a mish mosh of other photos:

beautiful flowers

the sloth is just hangin’ out today

hairy palm tree bark?

interesting blooms

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February 2, 2014 · 5:00 pm

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory – Como Park, St. Paul, MN

One of our favorite activities during the winter months is to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park. It’s a ten minute drive from our house and provides a nice refuge from the frigid weather. And boy howdy, have we ever had frigid weather this year! Not to mention the piles of snow we’ve accumulated. Here’s a good view of that snow with the conservatory in the background:

piles of snow

approaching the conservatory

I don’t think anyone’s going to be sitting on this bench any time soon :)

don’t let that bright blue sky deceive you – it was about zero degrees

This year I focused more on the blooms. Last year I documented many of the plants that are contained within the conservatory. If you’re interested, check out that post by clicking here. We managed to strike it rich in terms of seeing beautiful orchids. The winter carnival is happening right now and there was an orchid contest and the winners were displayed in one of the rooms. I also noticed that there were many more orchids blooming this year than last year. Last year we visited the equivalent of about 3 weeks ago. What a difference 3 weeks makes!

orchid at the conservatory

I did snap some photos of lovely greenery too:

A collection of some other things blooming:

The sunken gardens where many couples get married:

And here’s a photo from hubby’s camera, the photographer at work ;)

This was quite the scene with the sloth named Chloe and the lone sun bittern. There was a volunteer who just told us how the bittern loves to torment the sloth to gain control of this tree. Another volunteer watched with us while the sloth moved away from the bittern. He said he’d never seen that sloth move so fast! It seem the bittern won this round:

I’m thinking the bonsai room was either closed last year or we missed it. There’s a nice display of a few bonsai plants but it wasn’t a good day to take photos in there. It was too bright. But I did get one of an olive tree and then a view of the room:

Finally, a study of amaryllis. I liked hubby’s photo a little better than mine so he let me display it here.

such a beautiful red!

hubby’s photo

I’m participating in my friend Marianne’s new photo challenge “one trip every month”. Do check out other trips at the link to her blog and enjoy!!

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Tagged as Como Park, Como Park Conservatory, flowers, Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, Minnesota, nature, orchid photos, orchids, photography, St. Paul, travel

January 13, 2013 · 4:04 pm

A visit to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park, St. Paul

What started as a fun visit to one of my favorite spots in St. Paul, has turned into a post I’d like to dedicate to a friend who just died. I had posted one of my orchid photos on facebook and there was a message from a mutual friend letting me know that our dear Lish lost her battle with cervical cancer. On her facebook page was another friend reminding his female friends to get tested, indeed it is so important. So, this will also serve as a reminder to all women out there: please get tested for cervical cancer.

I try to go to the conservatory at least once during winter and most especially when it is so frigid outside as it is today. When we woke up it was only 2 degrees! It’s a wonderful taste of the tropics that helps we in the frozen tundra survive the winter. Indeed, as we entered the building our glasses fogged up. Perfect time to clean them eh? Following are some of my best shots. I hope you’ll all enjoy.

From the frigid outside:

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

Next, a gallery of some beautiful orchids:

A perfect place to sit and enjoy the gorgeous orchids

from our visit to the conservatory

In the north garden are a variety of tropical plants as well as helpful signs that teach the visitor a thing or two.

We were told by a volunteer that there was a cacao pod in the tree but it was too far back for me to photograph, but here’s the sign for that tree:

This huge plant particularly spoke to me as it is called the Traveler’s Tree but I had to photograph it in pieces as it is quite large. Here’s the top:

The bottom:

The accompanying sign:

There are so many interesting plants here, here’s some sugar cane:

A Manila hemp plant with rope made from its leaves:

Spinach anyone? This is a Malabar spinach. I didn’t know spinach grew up? And can you see the black “berries”? Are these seeds?

And here’s one that made me think of Z at Zeebra Designs & Destinations and I wonder if she sees these all the time, the Panama hat plant:

This most gorgeous blossom is on a ginger plant. I have been to the conservatory many times and I see different plants and flowers each time. I don’t recall ever seeing this blossom before. Isn’t it beautiful?

And from another angle (it’s so beautiful I had to take several shots):

Here’s another gallery of shots of other beautiful plants and flowers:

Brilliant red dianthus

The buds are in yellow in the foreground which become the orange stems. Interesting no?

A purple blossom on the tip of this bud.

Beautiful bromeliads

Bromeliad close-up

another interesting hanging plant

Beautiful display of bromeliads

Is that a blossom? Curious isn’t it?

In another area of the conservatory, adjacent to the original building (pictured up top) is the fern room:

Another fun sign:

Some gorgeous green ferns:

And hubby’s favorite, a Wooly Tree Fern:

There is so much more here since they expanded it several years ago. In another section a bit further away from the fern room is the Rain Forest room. The best way to get there is through the gift shop, for if you take the corridor in front of the gift shop, which is full of windows, you get a bit of a chill on a cold day like today. In this room we saw many more plants but also birds, ants, fish, a tarantula (ewie!!), snakes and well, I just could not photograph all of them. But here are two photos of some of the things we saw. A pretty blue and yellow bird who was nice enough to sit still long enough for me to get a good shot of him:

And would you believe a sloth lives in here too?

I also recorded the birds singing in this room, and I wanted to include it so that you could hear what the birds chirping sounded like. Alas, I am not sure how to do that. I will look up how to do this and add it later if I can figure it out. For now, I will leave you with a last photo of the sunken garden. The display in this room is changed every few months and it’s already time for the spring display even though it’s only January. They rent this room for special occasions and I know at least one couple that got married here. What a great venue for a wedding don’t you think?

Rest in peace dear Lish. You made this world a brighter, happier place with your great wit, compassion and sense of humor. I will remember you always.