Greenhouse at Planting Fields- review

Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park
Oyster Bay, NY

At dinner the other night I was loudly proclaiming my freedom from exams: "I don't know what to do!" which prompted an invitation to join my in-laws for a trip to a "flower show." So I met them at 1pm the next afternoon, and we drove to my father in law's friend's house, and switched cars, and drove out to Oyster Bay in Long Island to an old historic plantation called simply "Planting Fields."

Our first stop was the Camilla Greenhouse - a large typical old fashioned greenhouse one only seen nowadays in, say, Harry Potter movies or video games. My fellow visitors were focused on Camillas, so we naturally spent most of our time in that Greenhouse. I, having grown up in a desert region then living in Manhattan, knew very little about plants. I now know much more about camillas than I ever thought possible. But they are gorgeous flowers, and as it was pointed out to me, involve quite a variety of variations, so the visit and education was interesting. I was more awed at being in the greenhouse itself. There were two main sections of the Camilla Greenhouse, and held, mostly, camilla variations. It was still early spring (or late winter, depending on how enthusiastic you want to be about the weather) so not many people were around. We probably spent an hour to an hour and a half in the Camilla Greenhouse, viewing all the varieties and me taking pictures of said variations.

I was then surprised to hear that there was a Main Greenhouse, which I would have to be rather impressive if the Camilla Greenhouse in all its size and splendor, was a mere annex for the selfish camilllas. So we trotted across the estate a bit, passing by the house - er, mansion - whose last daily tour we missed by 10 minutes. The entrance to the Main Greenhouse was through the office/gift shop, and so we had chance to read a little about who actually owned and built this estate (the Coe family and the Olmsted Brothers who did some little patch of dirt called Central Park) before heading in. The first thing I noticed of the Main Greenhouse was that it held more variety of plants than the Camilla one, naturally. We passed by bulbous pitcher plants, made our way around an orchid room, peeked into a begonia room, and circled the larger "courtroom" that included coffee trees, banana trees, fragrant bushes of rosemary, and beautifully laid out ... tiny daisy-like flowers around the sunken central area. The "courtroom" was most pleasant, and had this incredible calming air to it, like some sacred spa.

According to the website, I missed a whole lot more to the estate. But the two greenhouses were plenty for me for that one visit. It was inspiring to see such a place, though, and I hope to return one day.