Bolz Conservatory Photograph ©Nadine Goff
If you need a respite from the icy-cold winter weather we’ve been having — and can’t afford to take off for a tropical isle — consider a visit to the Bolz Conservatory at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, where admission is only $1 (and FREE on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until noon).
Wonderfully warm and surprisingly humid, when we visited this afternoon the Bolz Conservatory is a tropical paradise on Madison’s East Side… “a glass pyramid filled with exotic plants and flowers, small birds, a rushing waterfall, and fragrant orchids.”
The current exhibit is “Chocolate: The Bitter and the Sweet,” but it’s very modest in scale and not nearly as interesting or relaxing as sitting and watching the birds feeding, gawking at the wide array of tropical plants, or staring down from a footbridge at the bright orange koi swimming in the sparkling waters below you.
Olbrich Botanical Gardens is located at 3330 Atwood Avenue. The Bolz Conservatory is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
