Plant Biology Greenhouse and Conservatory | School of Biological Sciences | SIU

SIU is fortunate to have a diverse collection of living plants from all over the world in the Plant Biology Greenhouse. This facility serves a number of functions including the teaching and research missions of the Plant Biology Program as well as the University and region. The Greenhouse is open to the public during normal business hours, so if you want a "tropical experience" in the middle of the Midwestern winter, pay us a visit!  To learn more about this marvelous plant collection, click on the links to the left.  Much of the Greenhouse plant diversity has been photographically indexed, so you can conduct your own virtual tour before paying an actual visit.

The Plant Biology (PLB) Greenhouse and Conservatory is operated by the Plant Biology Program, College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences at Southern Illinois University. Its purpose is to support the educational and research goals of that College as well as other campus units. These include:

• providing PLB faculty and students with growing space and professional advice on growing plants for various research projects.
• maintaining a conservatory of living plants to facilitate teaching in general as well as specialized biology classes.
• maintaining specialized collections such as aquatic plants, cacti and succulents, economically important plants, carnivorous plants, house plants, and orchids.
• providing community outreach by leading tours of elementary and secondary school children that use the above specialized collections to demonstrate basic ecological concepts.

The greenhouse is actually a complex of four inter-connected greenhouses and a headhouse. The headhouse contains an office for greenhouse staff, restrooms, storage areas for supplies and equipment, and a repotting area. During the cold months of the year the greenhouses are heated by means of steam transmitted through pipes to radiators within the individual houses. No temperature controls exist for the hot summer months, thus shade cloth, ventilation panes and fans are used in an attempt to keep temperatures within the growing range of plants. Despite these efforts, temperatures in the greenhouse on hot summer days may exceed 120 degrees F. All ventilation panes, both on the walls and roof of the houses, must be opened and closed manually. Supplemental lighting exists in two of the four houses for extending day length.

Several different conditions are maintained allowing the cultivation of

• cacti and succulents (south house)
• ferns and other non-flowering plants, begonias, aroids, carnivorous plants (middle house)
• annuals, classroom plants, and research plants requiring high light (north house)
• tropical plants (main house)

The main house has two small ponds for aquatic plants and a drip wall. Concentrated mainly in the main house are plants used for "set-ups", i.e. floral displays at university functions such as graduation.

In addition to inside space, the greenhouse maintains several flower beds along its outside perimeter, particularly on the east and north sides. The space between the north, middle, and south houses has in the past been used for various ecological research projects.

History

The current Plant Biology Greenhouse and Conservatory facility includes four inter-connected houses that allow the culture and propagation of a diverse collection of plants. These plants are essential elements in the research and teaching missions of the Department and are utilized in one way or another by essentially all professors, graduate students and undergraduates. But the services provided by these facilities and staff go beyond the Department in that people both on and off campus benefit from the collection. For example, students from other programs ranging from Plant, Soil & General Agriculture, Geology and Art & Design utilize the collection in diverse ways. Important University events such as graduation are enriched by foliage plant set-ups grown in this facility and artfully arranged by the Plant Biology Greenhouse staff. These staff members also provide community outreach in the form of primary and secondary school tours, help with junior college class projects, and by freely giving advice on plant culture to anyone who asks. For these reasons, this facility is an integral component of our Department, University and community.

The current physical arrangement of houses and the collections they contain represent the culmination of a gradual process that occurred over the past 60 years. Originally, three glass houses (the ones oriented east to west) were constructed in the late 1940s. These houses were used mainly by the University Grounds department to produce bedding plants for outdoor gardens around campus. Prior to 1946, the Botany Department (as it was then called) had only four or five faculty members (History of the Department). At that time, the mission of the Department was mainly towards teaching. In 1946 William Bailey retired and was succeeded as chair by Walter B. Welch. It was during his tenure as chair that the Department transitioned from a teachers college to a more research-oriented department offering graduate degrees (the first given in 1948). At this time the Department apparently shared space in the three greenhouses with the Grounds Department. But it soon became clear that those facilities were insufficient for the needs of both groups, for in 1950 another house was built (oriented north to south) that connected the existing three. At that time the faculty greenhouse Director was Assistant professor William M. Marberry. The greenhouse was under the jurisdiction of the Physical Plant and control was not turned over to the Botany Department until 1972. In terms of the day-to-day operations of the facility, staff such as Robert James was employed as Chief Gardener. Being that he was also a Reverend in the Shilo Missionary Baptist Church in Murphysboro, Mr. James saw connections between the natural and spiritual worlds. Mr. James, quoted in the July 24, 1975 Daily Egyptian newspaper article, said “There are certain requirements in both fields. In the spiritual field, you have to give people something tangible to hold fast to. With plants you have to supply fertilizer, water and air.”

Mr. James remained with the Botany greenhouse for 27 years. Upon his retirement in 1977 his position was filled by Eugene (Geno) S. Gillooly. In the mid 1970s the greenhouse had grown significantly with respect to the plant collection. In the August 2 1985 SIU Courier article, Geno recalls that in past years, 32 students worked in the greenhouse. Much of this activity and interest can be attributed to Robert H. Mohlenbrock who is best known for his work documenting the flora of Illinois. He and his students had a profound interest in what is today called “biodiversity” (at that time, taxonomy and systematics). In fact, Botany 308 “Taxonomy of Cultivated Plants” extensively utilized the vast greenhouse collection, estimated to be 1200 species at that time and as many as 2000 by 1985. In 1982 there existed outside the greenhouse 18 “mini-gardens”, including an African savanna, a Japanese garden (constructed by Robert Mohlenbrock’s son Mark), a prairie and an Alpine garden. Unfortunately, after 1985 changes in faculty composition and interest translated into budgetary cuts to the greenhouse. With fewer staff, many of these specialty gardens could not be maintained and were eventually neglected. In 1990 the prairie still existed to the west of the greenhouse. But the need to burn the prairie to maintain its species composition (remove invasives and woody species) conflicted with campus safety policies and it was eventually converted to a lawn.

The Plant Biology Greenhouse received a “shot in the arm” with the hire of Richard Cole in November 1993. Rich was hired because of his experience in commercial and wholesale greenhouse production as well as his degree in horticulture (1989, Murray State Univ.). As described in the June 23, 1994 Daily Egyptian article entitled “Greenhouse thrives on research, interest”, this facility provided critical space for research projects by Plant Biology faculty. At that time the Department also hoped to expand the outside flower gardens and increase the diversity of the collection. Indeed, this is exactly what happened over the following years. Rich Cole’s dedication to the facility, plus his enthusiasm for obtaining and maintaining unusual plants, has resulted in the collection growing again in size and diversity.

Scheduling Tours

Those bringing tour groups should be aware of some general guidelines.  This greenhouse is used for both teaching and research, thus we recommend not touching plants (unless told that it is safe). Under no circumstances should any plant parts (such as fruits) be eaten. Systemic insecticides are sometimes used that are inside all plant parts, and thus are potentially toxic. Some plants are part of research projects and others are spiny or poisonous, thus they should not be touched.  Wet floors, hard bench and floor surfaces can be hazardous if one falls.

To schedule a tour, please contact:

Clinton Chamness
Greenhouse Gardener I
618.453.2634
clinton.chamness@siu.edu