Huntington’s local exotic locale

West Virginia's only conservatory is at the Huntington Museum of Art.

The C. Fred Edwards Conservatory opened May 18, 1996.  It contains a wide variety of non-native subtropical and tropical plants, from a collection of 400 orchids to the unusual pitcher plant. Dr. Mike Beck is the conservatory director at the Huntington Museum of Art.

"The Huntington Museum of Art was founded in 1952 with a three-point mission: art, education, and nature, said John Gillispie, public relations director for the Huntington Museum of Art.  "As part of our nature mission, the museum maintains a nature trail system on our 52 acres of land. When you realize that nature has always been part of our mission here, it makes sense that we added the C. Fred Edwards Conservatory about 14 years ago."

The conservatory is not only maintained by staff at the museum  0but also with the help of Tokay geckos, free-range frogs and predatory insects to rid pests.  This enables the conservatory to work as a natural mini-ecosystem for plants and animals.

"I treat the conservatory as an ecosystem," Beck said. "So for example, instead of using poisons to control bugs, I release predatory insects and mites to kill and eat the pest species.  This is especially good because when the fruits such as the bananas, pineapples and kumquats ripen, they are safe to eat." "Many people have eaten chocolate or cashew nuts but have never seen the plants on which they grow.  We have several plants that many people haven't seen before."

"The agriculturally important plant category includes those that are important to most people usually because we eat them or use their products in some way," according to the Huntington Museum of Art's Web site.  Examples include cashew, chocolate, banana, papaya, sugarcane and coffee.  The presence of fragrant plants adds another dimension to the conservatory."

"Dr. Mike Beck is a great guy," Gillispie said. "He does an amazing job caring for the plants and creating signs for visitors to learn more about the tropical plants on display. "He creates beautiful orchid displays and is very good at talking to visitors about the plants here at the museum."

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $5 per person and $18 for a family of four or more.  Admission is free on Tuesday.

   John Yeingst can be contacted at yeingst@marshall.edu.