We continue our tour of Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam by featuring the first of their three greenhouse attractions - The Butterfly Greenhouse. The other two being the The Palm Greenhouse and Three Climate Greenhouse.
Keeping in mind how small this botanic garden is, their greenhouses are relatively small too but all has sufficient interests in them to merit a visit. And of the three, The Butterfly Greenhouse is the smallest.
And speaking of threes, the butterflies are just in one of three adjoining greenhouses. The middle one is used for propagation and not open to the public. The outer ones though are open to visitors.
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| Baja California to the left and Butterflies to the right |
Even though we haven't been I'm pretty sure that this greenhouse doesn't do this part of Mexico any justice at all but the plants inside are interesting enough to check out. Gotta love a greenhouse laden with spikies!
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| We spy spikies! |
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| Tillandsias |
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| Come on guys, at least use terracotta pots! |
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| Imposing enough, a beauty! |
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| I like the way the opuntias weaves itself on to the metal railings |
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| A third ball?? |
We bypass the middle section and proceed to the greenhouse where the butterflies are...
Butterflies don't usually interest me enough to be my main motivation to visit a place, even if within a botanic garden (in which case the botanic garden is my main motivation to visit). I say that every time but when I actually go and see where they are flying away you immediately you feel how much lively the space is. And how fun they are, feeling like a child again surrounded by them! That answers my question why even some botanic gardens do it, incorporate butterflies as one of their draws (as well as showing their symbiosis with plants).
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| Such a lively 'feeling' place! |
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| Nectar buffet |
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| Beautiful creatures |
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| Butterfly Motel...fascinating! |
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| Butterfly orgy.... |
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| Rash inducing critter |
Mark :-)
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
What a cool place! I love the butterfly house here in Seattle at the Science Center. They're such beautiful living creatures.
ReplyDeleteThey are aren't they Alison? :) fleeting creatures of beauty
DeleteSomehow I'm not sensing the passion for plants, especially the Baja collection, usually found in such places. The butterfly motel is quite impressive and something I have not seen in any other butterfly display.
ReplyDeleteIt's the motion of the butterflies in my garden that always mesmerizes me. Mexico is an awesome place to visit, you would enjoy the jungles of Yucatan especially. Just make sure your destination is safe.
Thanks for the tip Shirley, will keep that in mind :) so many places so little time! I suspect this botanic garden is not generously funded but at least the place is in very good order.
DeleteThe butterfly hotel is wonderful! I've recently noticed that all the local nurseries/garden centers appear to have a plentiful supply of butterflies flitting about and it can't be a coicidence or the result of a large mass of butterflies moving to SoCal. I imagine there must have been an article in some journal targeted at nursery owners, encouraging them to stock up on butterfly larva to bring in customers - their presence really does set a tone.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Kris :) Wisley has done it for a few years and they always get loads of extra visitors whenever it's on. It's also much easier to buy pupaes as well by mail order so anyone with a heated greenhouse can have a butterfly enclosure.
DeleteLove the butterfly motel! Those really are small glass houses, I was remembering your posts from Singapore and Kew, this was a totally different experience. I agree that the lack of terracotta pots seems daft, that first glass house was a bit of a curate's egg, but you have to love a display of cacti. From a safe distance...
ReplyDeleteHaha that made me laugh Janet! Yes especially if you don't have tweezers on hand :) a tiny botanic garden it is but thankfully it was just a walking distance from everything else, top marks for the central location!
DeleteYour comments on butterfly exhibits are are spot on for me. I've been to a few botanic gardens were you had to pay extra to get into the butterfly enclosure, so I skipped it. The times were it was included in the admission I do recall really enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you agree to that and we have the same sentiments Loree! I won't pay the extra either but if included happy to enjoy being with them :)
DeleteIt's got to be fun when you add flying flowers to the mix...and oh, that hatchery!
ReplyDeleteFlying flowers - I like that term Ricki! :))
DeleteOh my gosh what a super cool place this is! The butterflies that is..yeah, they could use some terra cotta and a little jazzing up of the Mexican part of the place but it's still cool - thanks for the tour!
ReplyDeleteA pleasure Tamara :)
DeleteI think Mexico deserves a visit!!!
ReplyDeleteThe butterfly greenhouse is very nice! there was one at the Museum of Natural Sciences in London when I visited, but I didn't had the time to get inside.
I was thinking...butterfly houses always display tropical butterflies. Wouldn't it be interesting to have one with colder climate butterflies? Maybe it is more difficult...I´ve also thought about a hummingbird house...but I guess it would be cruel for those little amazing birds...so we will just have to live without them in Europe, as we already do.
It would be wonderful if we had hummingbirds in Europe Lisa :) alas none but there's always the cupcakes!
DeleteHaha, the cupcakes are good, that is true ;)
DeleteFrom what I've seen of Baja, that greenhouse looks a lot more lush! Wonderful glasshouse operation and butterfly habitat.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting to hear Denise, my assumption would be the other way around.
DeleteWhat a great place to visit! While the Baja greenhouse was more esthetically pleasing (except for the black plastic pots - were they truly plastic?), I could not help noticing the larger crowd at the butterfly house. But the butterflies are so much fun; they appeal to the child in all of us! The butterfly motel was fascinating.
ReplyDeletePlastic they were Debs but I'm sure it won't stay like that for long :) it was a sweet little butterfly greenhouse that we enjoyed!
DeleteHow cool! Agree on the black plastic pots.. and love the butterfly cocoons. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Amy :)
DeleteWow that was crazy awesome! You two are traveling fools! LLOL
ReplyDelete