E.W. Heier Teaching Greenhouse at Binghamton University

To brighten this rainy day

This Stanhopea tigrina has produced 6 large flower displays in as many weeks. It has been very impressive and the greenhouse smells amazing.

It's fig season. We had to prune this tree back hard this spring. Honestly we did not expect any fruit this year. Yet here we are with a bumper crop. Figs are an interesting fruit called a syconium. It is actually multiple fruits aggregated together. It also doesn't need to be pollinated for the fruits to form. A sweet treat on these warm days.

It might be insanely hot in the greenhouses this week but flowers keep coming out. The stanhopea nigroviolacea opened fully this morning, it is producing a lovely scent of chocolate and vanilla.

With our impending renovation we have had to lower several of our larger specimens. As a consequence we are getting to enjoy some flowers at eye level this season. As an example this southern magnolia opened this morning.

More cacti that are currently in flower in the desert collection.

It's always bittersweet when the orchid cactus starts to bloom. It's a sure sign that the semester is over and the students are leaving. We want to congratulate all of our graduates and wish the happiest of summer breaks to everyone else.

The cactus are starting to flower. Over the next month or so many different cacti will put on a show.

Today is our semi annual plant adoption event. Minimum rehoming fee. From 10 to 3. A decent selection of house plants from tropical to succulents.

A natural dye class today. Made 2 new dyes. The bright yellow is from Osage saw dust. The red is cochineal with cream of tartar. The deep fuchsia is straight up cochineal and the light pink is the second extraction of the cochineal.

We had the campus preschool here this morning for an egg hunt.

We are hosting an egg hunt today throughout the greenhouse. Come join. Happy First Day of Spring!!!!

One of our other Amorphophallus species konjac opened today. Wow what a smell. Constant dead rotting animal smell not like the pulses of titan.

Many plants are flowing right now in the warm temperate room. The most spectacular might be the Dembeya.The Dembeya has large pink, hydrangea like flowers that fill the greenhouse with the smell of hot buttered popcorn.

We will be open during our winter hours of 9-noon when the University is open. We will be closed Christmas day and New Years day. We hope everyone has a restful Holiday Season.

We hosted a plant dye workshop with Alexandria Davis class at the greenhouse tonight. All of the dyes were made with plant materials grown, or gathered on campus with the exception of indigo. Students made some cool things.

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Starting to harvest from the economic/medicinal garden before the weather finally turns. Lemon verbena, basils, calendula, dyers Coreopsis, French marigolds.

Today is our semi annual plant adaptation event. For a minimal rehoming fee, cash only. Wide selection of house plants, cactus and succulents. 10-3.

As part of our community outreach we are offering native plants at the Haudesaunee Festival. Stop by we will be here 10-5

For those wondering why we are still not open. This is what we walked into this morning. For anyone that is confused, there should not be water here.

The water lilies are in bloom.

The Stanhopea nigroviolacea opened yesterday. Huge 8 inch flowers and the entire room smells of hot chocolate, vanilla, and something else I can't place. One of my favorite orchids. A native to Mexico's Eastern slopes. The flowers are huge and fragrant it's a shame they are open only last a few days.

Another decent harvest of figs this morning. We are right at the high of the season. I picked a little heavy due to the coming weekend.

This seasons first fig harvest. Since the researchers had to move down to the teaching greenhouses, they brought down multiple supplemental HID lights. The extra light seems to have benefited the fig. These figs are large, chunky and delicious this year.

These specialized fruits are called syconium which are actually multiple fruits aggregated together on the inside. You may have heard that when you eat figs you are eats tones of dead fig wasps. The interesting thing is the fig tree will still produce these fruits without the internal flowers being pollinated. So more then likely you are not eating any bugs, well unless you are eating a fig out in the wild. The

Even thou we are closed for renovations the greenhouses are still chugging along. Harvested the bananas today, and the Stanhopeas are putting on a show.

Hello all, The greenhouses will be closing on June 16th, possibly before for multiple projects. We Hope to be back open mid July, it might be longer. We apologize for any inconvenience. Hope you all enjoy your summer.

The vanilla has been flowing, just happened to notice it today. Vanilla that we use in desserts and the like comes from the seed pod and seed of the vanilla orchid. Vanilla is native to Mexico and has a very specialized bee that pollinates it. Colonial powers brought the orchid around the world; but, without this special bee there were no pods. Until an enslaved man figured out how to pollinate the orchid with a small sharpen stick. Almost all of the vanilla that you buy in stores has been hand pollinated. Attached is a video about vanilla production, the social ramifications, and touches on the impacts of global climate change and the threat to vanilla. https://youtu.be/3di0eG1XFus