Monday, August 09, 2010

Greenhouses Galore


I have been volunteering as a gardener at what is officially named Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park. Fancy! There are many lovely gardens, which I shall no doubt cover later, but my favorite part is the cluster of greenhouses just inside the admission booth. I am really enamored of Victorian greenhouses. These ones were built between 1903 and 1915, by the same company that built the New York Botanical Gardens. They are extremely charming.


How cheerful! Do you not want to just stick an armchair in here and read a book? Plus, check out that sweet ceiling fan that looks like it's from 1935. All this place needs is a jazz on a record player and someone named Jeeves to bring you a steady flow of cups of tea and/or gin and tonics.


But greenhouses aren't all fun and games! Sonnenberg's gardeners raise many if not a majority if not a vast majority of their own plants from seeds. I'm told there is much work done here in the winter.


There is also much work to be done in the summer, obviously. This is a sneak peak of the "head house," where all the pots and soil and watering cans and sinks are. My favorite spot in the whole place is this exact view, because it is what I see after I have just finished making things beautiful and washed the dirt off my hands and removed all thorns and splinters and am about to have a Fig Newton and go home. It smells like dirt and greenery, no one else is around, and in the next room a hidden radio is playing classical music. Perfect.

3 comments:

Ivan said...

Aside from the Fig Newton, that last paragraph is perfection.

Simon said...

Don't worry, Fig Newtons are optional.

Ivan said...

oh good: digestives have been substituted for unnamed cookie of evil. perfection achieved.