A few weekends ago, I found myself in Pittsburgh for my friend’s wedding and had time on Saturday morning to explore. Wanting to find Pittsburgh’s green side, I received recommendations from Twitter friends Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project and Ali Shapiro for Phipps Conservatory.

Dating back to 1893, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is set in Pittsburgh greenspace Schenley Park, right in view of the University of Pittsburgh (and the Cathedral of Learning). All of the exhibits are beautiful and full of vibrant plants. Scattered throughout the exhibits and greenhouse is insight on sustainable gardening, building practices & an environmental awareness.

Phipps Conservatory: a Photo Tour

As you walk up to the Phipps Conservatory entrance, the glass building is gorgeous:

After you pay the admissions fee, the main room captures your attention with lots of plants and interesting details. Take this wine rack that doubles as a fountain, for instance:

This statue was perfect among the vertical green space. Although I almost walked by it, the little details really make the exhibits extraordinary:

Phipps Conservatory: Gardening Lessons

I love how Phipps Conservatory educates the visitor. They have an entire outdoor ‘edible garden’, where I saw allll the vegetables I receive from my CSA! Plus, the produce is used for their cafe in truly local dishes. This Swiss Chard was quite the healthy crop!

This room was dedicated to educating the little tykes! It was complete with grocery carts, play scales, calculators and everything to purchase the right, healthy veggies.

How cute is this plastic produce aisle? Kids can discover the healthy veggies (and hopefully want to try it all!)

Phipps Conservatory has a rotating exhibit as well. The theme I saw was ‘India’, and quite extraordinary. I felt like I was transported to an Indiana Jones setting (or something)…

All of the rooms had different themes. The succulent room had lots of interesting plants from all over the world, yet I was drawn to this cacti-tree:

This Broderie Garden was definitely one of my favs… Especially with my favorite colors of pink, green & purple! Modeled after a 17th century garden, it transported me to France.

My favorite herbs were scattered throughout the Conservatory, along with natural healing capacities. Basil is my favorite herb, and I was happy to learn it aids my digestion AND immune system. (Maybe why I haven’t taken a sick day in a WHILE?)

The herb room had a beautiful fountain system and is a green abyss:

One of my favorite parts of Phipps is that they’re completing one of the greenest buildings in the world, right in Iron City. The Center for Sustainable Landscapes is one of the world’s first certified living buildings, a model for architects, scientists, planners or anyone who wants to live greener. The center will generate all of its own energy and treat its own water on site (416 gallons per day!), meeting or exceeding the 3 highest green standards: Living Building Challenge, LEED Platinum and SITES Certification for landscapes. Plus, it looks pretty futuristic:

When I was outside admiring the soon-to-be greenest building, I overheard two older couples admiring the architecture. One of the gentleman stated “If we could just build in lines with nature and not against it, we’d be so much better off!” Although simple, this statement aligned with so many themes. It was a perfect summary.

Thank you Phipps, for making my visit to Pittsburgh more interesting!

Heading to the west side of the state? Phipps is only $12 and open daily. Find out more on their visit Phipps page.

Phipps did NOT sponsor GPB for this post.

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Julie Hancher is Editor-in-Chief of Green Philly, sharing her expertise of all things sustainable in the city of brotherly love. She enjoys long walks in the park with local beer and greening her travels, cooking & cat, Sir Floofus Drake. View all posts by Julie Hancher