Kingwood Center, Mansfield, Ohio, a break from the snow!

Unfortunately I did not get to spend as long here as I wanted to. I had twenty minutes to do a quick run through. I spent the most time in the desert house. I got to run through the tropicals before the two harried workers who had apparently had enough of plants for one day told me "sir, you have to leave *now*."

This is the breezeway connecting all three areas, the desert room, the courtyard, and the tropicals. In a few more weeks this breezeway will be filled with hundreds of Easter lilies. It has to be experienced to be believed. The fragrance is astonishing.

-Joe

This is a large variegated cactus directly inside the door of the desert room. Yes, I am amiss. I forgot to photograph all of the name plates. :( I did not have time. I promise to return when I do, and take more photos for here.

-Joe

This is a different view of the same very tall cactus. Again, the variegation to me is striking.

-Joe

A mixed group of succulents and desert plants.

More.

The crown of thorns was blooming.

A beautiful cactus, also quite large.

Some of his friends.

So many nice, large cacti.

A view to the south down the west side of the desert room.

Such incredible succulents.

This is a lovely grouping. I wish I could do this in the middle of one of my rooms.

Another ENORMOUS barrel cactus. He was probably three feet tall. I love barrel cactus.

Some euphorbias, and a few odds and ends. Thus ends the ten minute run-through of the desert room. The clock was ticking.

A lovely fuschia in the tropical room. So very few plants were blooming.

A pretty begonia.

Who is this sitting all quiet in the corner? A nice brugmansia.

Not much fragrance here, but at least it's GREEN, and it's BLOOMING. :)

Looking to the west. Some cordylines, etc.

Hi there, tall, skinny, and wierd-haired. Not everyone in Mansfield, Ohio looks like this.

This vine doesn't look that impressive.

But look at the detail of her flowers. I believe this is called a bleeding heart vine?

Something orange. I love orange flowers.

Lovely color.

A philodendron, and a night-blooming cereus hiding in the background. Actually, if I had a distance shot it would loom more than appearing to hide. Much like my cereus down in the basement, Audrey II.

A fishtail palm?

Give me a hand.

A croton. Obscuring a worker whose life depended on leaving the greenhouse at precisely 4:30 PM EST.

The bird of paradise says "goodbye". The woman glaring over the flower says "get out now." :)

Thus concludes the twenty minute tour of exactly one half of the Kingwood Center greenhouse. The other half is the retail section. Orchids, orchids, and more orchids. I have no pix right now.

This bird of paradise was quite friendly, outside in the snow.

He was trying to impress the ladies, who were playing hard to get.

Wouldn't this have been an awful place to live? The gardens surround this mansion. The Kingwood Estate is now public property. The grounds towards the house from this view are the perennial gardens.

This was the peacock's buddy. He was out for a nibble.

One more view of ther estate, including the back drive. This summer I'll get you some lovely pictures of the grounds. If I get there fifteen minutes before the place closes ...

-Joe

One pic I missed from the desert house. Look at the lovely color of these plants. And the place smelled ALIVE. I wouldn't have a hard time staying in this place. I'd have a hard time LEAVING. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed this. I enjoyed taking you with me. Next time we'll hopefully be able to spend a bit more time looking around, and I'll remember to photograph the little identification plates.

Peace,

Joe G.

Oh. my. goodness.

Wow! That looks like one Amazing place ... not to spend 15 minutes, but an entire day! Lovely photo's .... Thank you for sharing! Can't wait to see some pic's this summer! Please, post more when you get them!


The tall, skinny weird haired plant in your post # 4589330 looks like a mature specimen Pony Tail Palm: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2312/


and the orange flowered plant in your post # 4589342 looks to be something folks grow as a landscape plant down here in the south called Crossandra or Firecracker Flower: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1337/

Here's a link to Kingwood. It IS an amazing place. http://www.kingwoodcenter.org/ It's a treasure here in Central Ohio, and so many people locally don't even know it's here! I like to sit on the front lawn and read. :)

-Joe

Beautiful Place! A shame that a lot of locals don't even know it's there!

Thanks for the link!

During the summer the rose gardens, peony gardens, and outdoor flower beds are great to browse through. The plants are all labeled so you can wander around and make notes of varieties that you want for your own gardens. There have been many weddings performed at Kingwood over the years. There are also some wonderful plant sales and shows that are held there.
Not too many miles from Kingwood is the Wade Gardens which is a gardeners heaven. They specialize in Hostas & Daylilies but have many greenhouses full of any kind of perennial you could possibly want. Again, the gardens are beautiful and are a great place to see your plants in bloom. Definitely a place worth a trip to visit.