Tropical garden to offer break from cold weather

White River Gardens opens 'Orchid Oasis' exhibit in Indianapolis

By Emily Baldauf
Staff Writer

Students who find it difficult to cope with the continuous gray skies and frigid temperatures that highlight Indiana weather forecasts now have a chance to transport themselves into a tropical paradise.

After just a short drive from West Lafayette, students can come in from the Indiana cold into the warm heat of a tropical garden.

White River Gardens, a sister institute to the Indianapolis Zoo that opened in 1999, will once again present "Orchid Oasis," an exhibit that presents an array of tropical flowers. The exhibit opened Friday and runs through March 4.

After the initial temperature adjustment, students will find themselves surrounded by a 5000 square foot garden of beautiful flowers quite uncommon in Indiana during the winter months. Hundreds of Moth Orchids blanket the floor of the Garden’s Gilbert Conservatory. Among the many Moth Orchids will be Cymbidium, Cattleya and Lady’s Slipper Orchids. Additional tropical plants such as gingers, anthiriums and assorted bromeliads are intermixed with the orchids.

"The flowers were selected because they are ones that are blooming this time of year, and most of the ones in the exhibit are ones that can be grown in people’s own homes," said Mary Welch-Keesey, a Purdue horticulture specialist at White River Gardens.

Although the Garden's gift shop will not be open during the exhibit, people can purchase similar flowers from local nurseries.

The "Orchid Oasis" walk also includes many educational signs that tell about each flower. The entire walk could take up to two hours if every sign was read and considered.

If visitors want a change, they are free to visit the outside animal exhibits of the Indianapolis Zoo that shares a common entrance and parking lot with the White River Gardens.

The zoo provides a quiet atmosphere and is open through the winter months, said Judith Gagen, White River Garden's director of public relations. "Some things go in for the winter like the parakeets, but bears, tigers, walruses and polar bears are outside. It’s very quiet and I like it."

In addition, the Schaefer Rotunda and Grand Hallway will be presenting a new exhibit that is free to the public. The show entitled "Seasons" will feature works by several artists that portray the four seasons in nature through landscape or still life.

"I think people who come will get the opportunity to see a diversity of plants and hopefully a better understanding of how plants survive in other environments," Welch-Keesey said. "Not only is it is a nice, warm place to get out of the cold air, but it is beautiful."

The exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday through March 4. Information about closings due to inclement weather conditions or more detailed ticket information can be obtained by calling the Information Phone Line at (317) 630-2001 or at the Garden's Web site at www.whiterivergardens.com.

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