Things to do / Travel Guide
Southwestern Pennsylvania offers three unique botanical gardens that make the Pittsburgh area a wonderful place to experience horticulture at its finest.
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens' sprawling Victorian greenhouse, with its stately glass and metal façade, is the first clue to the elegant beauty held within. Located near Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, the 13-room conservatory features an Orchid Room, a Tropical Fruit and Spice Room, and a Victoria room. There are also other lush, fragrant exhibits open year-round. Six external gardens including an Aquatic Garden, Japanese Courtyard Garden, Medicinal Plant Garden, and a Discovery Garden (designed especially for children), make the Phipps Conservatory well-worth a trip during the warmer months.
Take a spiritual sojourn into the Holy Land at Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh. The botanical garden, housed on the property of southwestern Pennsylvania's oldest Jewish synagogue, is one of three Biblical gardens in North America. It features more than 100 temperate and tropical plants indigenous to ancient Israel; each plant is accompanied by a Biblical verse. The garden is designed as a replica of the Holy Land and features a small desert and the Jordan River, which gurgles through the garden linking the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The gardens are open June through September.
For an in-depth perusal of southwestern Pennyslvania's regional flora and horticulture, head to the Botanic Garden of Western Pennsylvania located on 432 acres about 20 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. The gardens are designed to complement the Phipps Conservatory and are southwestern Pennsylvania's only completely outdoor botanical garden.
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