Steve Sisson from the RO looks at an opened cacao pod.
Have you ever wondered what soursop tastes like? Or the best place to plant yourself on a cold winter day? DEM team members got to dig into those questions during a budding adventure of the Botany Greenhouses on June 26. The tour was led by Molly Campbell, who is a horticulture technician with the Botany department.
Organized by the Well-Being Task Force, the tour of the greenhouses showcased the huge variety of plants grown and maintained by the Botany department. A highlight of the tour was tasting a freshly harvested soursop fruit and peeking inside a cacao pod. Unfortunately, the cacao pod, which had fallen off the plant, was a bit past its prime so no tasting this time.
A cactus in the Botany Greenhouse
The Botany Greenhouses are used for research as well as cultivating plants for classroom use. Inside were tropical plants, desert plants, native Wisconsin plants, and carnivorous plants among the more than 2,000 plant species just blooming with personality. A cozy bench inside the tropical greenhouse is frequently used by students and other visitors looking for a quite place to relax.
The tour also branched out into the Botany Garden, where guests enjoyed a koi pond and an apple tree grafted from the very one that inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s gravity epiphany.
If you missed the tour but would like to see the Greenhouses, they are open to the public Monday – Friday 8am to 2pm and located in Birge Hall. The Garden is located between Birge Hall and University Avenue and is open sunrise to sundown everyday.
