Endless Summer – The Biltmore Conservatory

Photo by Jeff Miller
Photo by Jeff Miller

A raw wind is whipping across the mountains and swirling a dusting of snow through the dormant gardens. Winter has tightened its grip on the landscape, dressing it in bare trees and dry leaves. You pull your coat close around you and quicken your step as you approach the stately brick and glass edifice that glows at the end of the pathway.

Warm, moist air caresses your face as you open the heavy glass door. Step inside and you are transported into a tropical paradise. A canopy of towering palm trees draws the eye up to a soaring, 40-foot glass ceiling. Bromeliads gesture invitingly. Welcome to the Conservatory at Biltmore, the ultimate winter luxury—a snow globe in reverse.

One would expect nothing less than the superlative from George Vanderbilt and his dream team of architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape designer Fredrick Law Olmsted and this massive greenhouse does not disappoint. With its gracefully arched façade, the 7,500-square-foot structure anchors the classic Walled Garden and provides a centerpiece for 75 acres of formally landscaped gardens and grounds, a vibrant emerald jewel in the crown.

George Vanderbilt’s interest in horticulture inspired his extensive projects in forestry and guided his vision of the estate itself as a self-sufficient agricultural compound, yet the Conservatory served a much more personal agenda. Built into the hillside, the subterranean level was designed to accommodate practical concerns such as housing coal bins and storage for gardening equipment, but the ground level was intended strictly for the pleasure of the Vanderbilt family and their guests.

Conservatories were all the rage in the Gilded Age and acquiring a fine collection of specimen plants was considered a fitting pursuit for the upper echelon. Vanderbilt spared no expense in adorning his hothouse, importing exotic palms and ferns native to Africa, Australia, and China. His initial plant order also included 800 orchids, at a cost of $1,600, a king’s ransom at the time.

To ensure the wellbeing of this precious assembly of flora, the Conservatory was outfitted with an innovative and unique feature: a boiler-fed heating system originating in the 12,000-square-foot basement beneath the glass edifice.

“The current steam boiler system operates on natural gas, but originally there was a coal-fired hot water system and some poor soul had to stay down there every night in the winter and stoke the thing,” notes gardener Darien Ball, who oversees operations at the Conservatory. “The steam gets pumped up from the boiler to pipes that run under all the plant benches in the rooms.”

To further regulate the temperature, a series of crank-operated vents ensured sufficient airflow, keeping the atmosphere balmy but not stifling, so as not to wilt the ladies as they sat among the orchids drinking tea.

But as pioneering as the construction and systems were in 1895, by the turn of the following century the Conservatory was in need of an overhaul. In 1996, Biltmore undertook a three-year, 2.5 million dollar renovation project to restore it to its former glory. Working with Hunt’s original floor plan, the building was thoroughly refurbished, renovated and reinforced. Custom growing beds were installed in the major rooms and worn wooden growing benches from a 1950s renovation replaced with durable pressed resin, which resembles the slate believed to have been used originally. New herringbone-patterned brick floors were set in sand to provide direct drainage when watering and sure footing for workers and visitors alike.

A multi-zone climate control system now measures the temperature and humidity in each of the Conservatory rooms and automatically adjusts the heating and ventilation, maintaining the optimal growing environment for specimens ranging from sub-tropicals such as ficus, bananas, tree ferns and schefflera to true tropicals like some of the palms and orchids. “There is a mist system of tiny jets running along the walls,” Ball explains. “When the humidity drops or the heat is too high they go off. I can pre-set different levels in each room, so everybody gets their own comfort zone.”

The vigor of the plants is of paramount concern to the staff, who tenderly minister to the permanent residents of the raised planting beds and the hundreds of specimens rotated into seasonal displays from the nearby Production House. A 1960s addition to the complex, this behind-the-scenes greenhouse is devoted to propagation, preparation and rejuvenation. It is here that 500 poinsettias for the holiday displays are fostered beginning in early July and over 200 orchids nurtured into full, glorious flower by orchid expert Jim Rogers before being presented to the public.

Out of sight, the Conservatory’s gardeners perform magic using heating pads to coax amaryllis into bloom, tricking the poinsettias to show their color by controlling their exposure to light and resourcefully recycling corks from the estate’s Winery into growing medium for the orchids. Like George Vanderbilt, their passion for plants motivates them to continuously seek out new varieties to add to the collection. “We want the newest, coolest stuff we can find,” Ball says enthusiastically.

It all comes together seamlessly as visitors meander through the rooms, exclaiming with delight and wonder at the ornamental, paper-like pods of the Japanese Lantern, the delicacy of the Dancing Lady ginger or the massive, brilliant bloom of a cattleya orchid. In an almost hypnotic state, they stroll amid the lush foliage or linger on a bench in the Sitting Room where classical music plays softly in the background. “We’re creating an experience for them,” says Ball. “Even people who aren’t plant oriented enjoy the aesthetic atmosphere.”
It is an atmosphere that guests of the estate have savored for over a century and it is an enduring gift. No matter what the weather, the Vanderbilt spirit of grace, elegance and hospitality is encapsulated in this enchanted oasis of endless summer.

Local Resources: Biltmore Estate

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