Blooming Fantasies: Extraordinary Plant and Floral Worlds in History

Friday, January 8, 2021 to Friday, January 22, 2021 | 11 AM

Architectural Historian and Honorary Member, The Garden Club of America, John Tschirch presents:
Blooming Fantasies: Extraordinary Plant and Floral Worlds in History

An eLecture Series

The Conservatory:
A History of the Glasshouse
Friday, January 8 | 11 AM

The extraordinary story of the conservatory is traced from Empress Josephine’s glasshouse filled with exotic plants to Victorian extravaganzas such as the Palace of Flowers in San Francisco.
Photo: The Great Glasshouse at Malmaison by Auguste-Siméon Garneray. Musées nationaux de Malmaison, France.

Winter Gardens of the Tsars
Friday, January 15 | 11 AM

Brilliant, colorful blooms flourished in the depths of winter in the palaces of the Russian Tsars. These fantastic floral worlds will be the focus of this richly illustrated lecture. Photo: “The Winter Garden” from the series “Interiors of the Small Hermitage.” 1865. Edward Hau, watercolorist (1807-1888). Collection of the Hermitage Museum

Orangeries: The Royal
Taste for Citrus
Friday, January 22 |11 AM

The palaces of Versailles, Schönbrunn, Pitti and Kensington, and the gardens of Mount Vernon all feature elaborate orangeries for cultivating and storing that rare fruit, the orange, prized by kings, queens, and the first U.S. President. This lecture visits both monumental orangeries and courtly banquets designed around the orange. Photo: Conservatory of Schönbrunn Palace

One lecture: $15 Member | $20 Nonmember
All three lectures: $25 Member | $30 Nonmember
Add on a Tea for Two package! $25

Our Lecturer:
John R. Tschirch is an award-winning architectural historian and Honorary Member of the Garden Club of America. His thirty-year career in historic preservation has led him on treks to heritage sites across the globe. He is currently writing the book America’s Eden: Newport Landscapes Through the Ages for the Newport Tree Conservancy.