Green Haven
| by Brett Simison
Green Haven
Middlebury’s Bi Hall greenhouse is much more than a botanical laboratory.
Transcript
We’re on the sixth floor by hall right now. It’s a geography floor. It used to be computer science. So it’s sort of like there’s not a lot of connection there. So I often feel when people find the greenhouse, it’s very serendipitous. Like, who knew there was a greenhouse on the sixth floor of by hall? So once they come here, I like to think of it as sort of a secret garden. People often ask me, how do you choose the plants in here? And I would always say, first and foremost, my focus has been that I would like the students to walk in here and have their interests beaked in plants. That’s my mission statement, is to get people excited about plants. So doing that, I think it’s fun to have some economic botany. So I’ve got chocolate plant, I have a vanilla plant, I have a fig plant, I have bananas, plantains. Then I go with plants that are kind of special to me that I really love. There’s a redwood plant in here, and I actually have a picture of my husband and I in front of a redwood in California. In case you don’t know what a redwood looks like, it’s phenomenal. Probably our most interesting plant here is one called Amor Atu. And it is the largest flower in the kingdom. And when it flowers, it smells like rotty meat. I don’t know how this floor is gonna feel when we fill it up with this odor, but it will be a big event and very fun. There’s one called Queen of the Night, and she’s not very attractive all year long until she sends out a blossom that is huge. It’s probably eight inches across. It’s pink, it’s frilly soft in scented, but it comes out at night. And in the log book, it’s noted It’s probably eight inches across. It’s pink, it’s frilly soft in scented, but it comes out at night. And in the log book, it’s noted and she grows her babies right on the sides of her leaves. So these can just scatter ‘em on the soil and they’ll grow. And this is fun. When kids come in, I always send ‘em home with a paper towel with some mother, a thousand babies here, one plant that I have to keep on the table all the time, or people writing a log book that they’re missing. It is the mimosa. It’s also called Touch Me Knot. And when you touch the leaves, they close up and they recovers after about 10 minutes. And this is one of the most fun plants for kids and students to come and touch while they’re sitting here at the table. And the best thing about coming into the greenhouse is if you come in all the way and come around, you’ll see a little table. So I call that the hidden garden. And you are rewarded with a little spot to sit, uh, with your thoughts or your homework or whatever. The log books are quite amazing. So it’s a college composition notebook, the blue notebook, everybody remembers writing in. And I buy it at the bookstore. And I always write the same thing on the front, which is greenhouse log. Please share a comment, thought, reflection, and then it’s whatever you wanna write. And people are great about putting a date and pouring their hearts out. So if it’s in the fall, it’s filled with trepidation and angst being away from home homesickness. Um, and then you can kind of see that transition into self-discovery, um, telling what year the students are exam time is filled with self-doubt and stress. So much stress, so much stress, so much angst poured into these books. I feel like it has to be cathartic. What people are writing. Students really for some reason feel really comfortable pouring out some of their deepest thoughts. And I’m also struck by what a four year experience, how it changes people and especially at this age. And it’s really lovely to read. Some of it is filled with angst and is kind of painful to read, but you know that at the other end of it, they’re reflecting on the big things that have happened to them over these four years. And I, I love how that’s captured in the log book. And I feel like this place, sitting at the table with the babbling brook just allows people to pour out their thoughts and not censor themselves. And I love that it makes me want to come in here every day.