Holiday Hothouse: Blithewold’s Winter Greenhouse

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with current visiting information for 2026

While the gardens outside rest for winter, something wonderful is happening inside Blithewold’s historic greenhouses. Every December, during Christmas at Blithewold, the glasshouses come alive with an extraordinary collection of tropical plants, tender perennials, and rare winter blooms — warm, fragrant, and completely unexpected in the heart of a Rhode Island winter.

The holiday hothouse is one of Blithewold’s best-kept secrets. Visitors who venture inside discover a botanical world that has been carefully tended year-round by our horticulture team. Flowering maples (Abutilon) hang heavy with delicate bell-shaped blossoms. Fuchsias dangle like tiny dancers in jewel-bright colors. And the camellias — our horticulturists’ perennial winter favorites — produce blooms of such perfection that they seem almost too beautiful to be real.

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The Lord and Burnham Greenhouses, originally built in 1901 and lovingly restored in 2005 and 2015, house a botanical collection that would be remarkable in any setting. During the holiday season they are especially magical — a warm refuge filled with color and fragrance while the grounds outside are stripped bare by winter.

What you might find inside during the holiday season:

• Camellias in bloom, including Camellia japonica varieties prized for their perfect, rose-like flowers
• Flowering maples (Abutilon) with their pendulous, lantern-shaped blossoms in gold, orange, and pink
• Fuchsia in continuous bloom throughout the winter months
• Giant leopard plants (Farfugium japonicum) with cheerful yellow flowers
• A rotating collection of tropical and exotic plants from Blithewold’s tender perennial collection

The holiday hothouse is included with general admission during Christmas at Blithewold, which runs throughout December. The mansion itself is decorated in a different historical theme each year, making a visit to Blithewold in winter a genuinely special experience — very different from the spring and summer seasons, and well worth the trip.

• General admission: Adult $22 | Youth (6-10) $6 | Youth (11-16) $11 | Family $50
• Members visit free

Purchase tickets online and come in from the cold. The greenhouse is waiting.