Conservatories New Role
I noticed an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor yesterday. Its title “BOTANICAL CONSERVATORIES TAKE ON URGENT NEW ROLE” sounded intriguing.
The article speaks about the importance that conservatories are coming to have in the preservation of species facing the effects of climate change.
Jane Roy Brown, the writer notes that “conservatories, once the glass-walled playgrounds of wealthy plant collectors, now serve a more urgent function”. She says “the changing global climate has spotlighted the role these specialized greenhouses play in preserving plant diversity”.
She makes the analogy that the conservatory is to plants what a zoo is to animals and points out that “climate-controlled conservatories may well be the only places some plants can survive” and that they “allow scientists to educate the public, including gardeners, about the environmental threats to many species”.
Clearly, as the effects of changes to our global ecosystem become felt, the conservatory will become an important tool for scientists.
“Kayri Havens, director of plant science and conservation at the Chicago Botanic Garden, says that scientists began viewing species conservation as a primary function of conservatories only about 50 years ago.”
Read the article if you get a chance. It throws a new light on the conservatory and its history. Remember that the conservatories were first developed to do exactly that – conserve delicate plants that could not survive outside. These were usually specimens brought from far off tropical locations for the purpose of research and display. Not unlike the new role they might play.