AMERICA’S COOLEST INDOOR BOTANICAL GARDENS AND GREEN SPACES

Winter can be lovely in its own way, but after enough time enduring the bitter cold, it’s natural to fantasize about a warm day in the tropics. So, if you’re craving a break from winter’s icy grip—dominated by grey skies, bare trees and frozen-over flowers—your nearest indoor green space is a perfect respite from the seasonal blues.

Across America, stunning greenhouses (often called conservatories) are packed with lush and exotic plants, serving as attractions for visitors.

1. Phipps Conservatory (Pittsburgh, PA): Opened in 1893, the Victorian-era Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh is enormous—you could spend a whole day exploring the glass-enclosed structure, with 14 distinct rooms featuring horticulture from around the globe. The entrance to the Palm Court offers a grand welcome, with its high glass peaks and lush plant life punctuated by glass installations by Dale Chihuly. Home to some of the oldest “flower shows” in the world, no trip here is the same as curators consistently swap out exhibits and organize events year-round.

2. Conservatory of Flowers (San Francisco, CA): Golden Gate Park in San Francisco offers several gardens, but the Conservatory of Flowers was the very first formed structure in the park when it opened in 1879. The building is the oldest public wood-and-glass conservatory in North America, spanning 12,500 square feet and featuring more than 2,000 species of plants and flowers (many of which are rare or endangered.) One of its most fun and unusual attractions is Scarlet, the corpse flower (also known as a Titan Arum). This plant, native to Indonesia, has the largest leaf of any plant species—they can tower as high as 15 feet—and gives off a famously pungent odor when it blooms, which only happens every three to five years.

3. Conservatory at the U.S. Botanical Garden (Washington, D.C.): The greenhouse contains two courtyard gardens and 10 garden rooms under glass, totaling more than 28,000 square feet of growing space. Rooms include exhibits featuring towering tropical forests, a primeval garden (flowering plants from 150 million years ago), Hawaiian flora, world deserts, orchids and a children’s garden.