W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory

Hours: Open Tuesday thru Sunday 10 am-4:30 pm (gift shop closes at 4 p.m.)
Closed: Mondays, except for public holidays as well as Thanksgiving (Nov. 26), Dec. 1-4 for holiday decorating, Dec. 24 (closes at 3 pm), Dec. 25 and New Year's Day (Jan. 1).

$4 Suggested Donation - Your donations help offset the cost of maintaining this beautiful, historic landmark and our collection of tropical plants. Construction of the Conservatory was made possible by a $10,000 donation from William Wolcott Seymour over 100 years ago. With the same civic spirit and pride we ask our visitors today to support our mission through the next hundred years. Thank you for your generous support. A $35 foundation membership includes unlimited visits.

Master Gardeners are on site every Saturday from February through June, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to answer your plant questions.

View a vodcast about the Conservatory. (posted 07/29/08)

Always in bloom
Exotic tropical plants and floral displays await you at the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park. This historic glass conservatory, with its distinctive twelve-sided central dome, is listed on the City of Tacoma, Washington State and National historic registers. 3,000 panes of glass make up the dome and wings of the Conservatory. In 2008, the Conservatory was voted the Best Place to Relax in Tacoma by readers of the Tacoma Weekly.

Changing Floral exhibits:

	January: Spring comes early to the Conservatory with a great variety of azaleas displayed with tulips, cyclamen and miniature daffodils.
	February: Hyacinths, tulips, cyclamen, clivias, orchids and azaleas in many gorgeous colors make you forget that it is still winter.
	March: A Saint Patrick's Day display features purple shamrock plants, fragrant lilies, hydrangeas, fairy primroses and azaleas.
	April: Fragrant Easter lilies, Asiatic lilies and callas delight your senses in a display with hydrangeas, azaleas and primula obconica.
	May: Treat the Moms in your life to a stroll through the lovely display of pink polka-dot plants, hydrangeas and Oriental lilies.
	June: Usher in summer with colorful coleus, fragrant pink and white lilies, tuberous begonias and polka dot plants.
	July: Red, white and blue display of petunias and salvias is followed by agapanthus, celosias and sunflowers.
	August: Fanciful caladiums, coleus and gomphrenas steal the show.
	September: The red hot chile peppers and caladiums are on show. Garden mums bring the first signs of fall later in the month.
	October: More garden mums followed by exhibition mums. It is time to bring the kids and camera for fun in the Pumpkin patch.
	November: Escape the rainy days with a stroll through the exotic tropical room. Enjoy the colors of pot mums and outrageous exhibition mums.
	December: Come in for a winter treat of fragrant paper whites, exotic amaryllis and a marvelous show of poinsettias. Remember the gardener on your wish list.

Permanent Collection:

• More than 250 individual plant species
• More than 200 orchids
• Between 300-500 blooming plants on display year round
• Large collections of tender azaleas, Vireya rhododendrons, Clivias, Cymbidium, Agapanthus, Epiphyllum Cacti, and exhibition Chrysanthemums

The Conservatory is utilized as a Plant Rescue Center for the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife for plants confiscated at the U.S./Canada border crossings.

Last Updated: Jul 28, 2010 12:32 PM