Warm Temperate Pavilion in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Nov. 2006

Steinhardt Conservatory: Warm Temperate Pavilion

The Helen Mattin Warm Temperate Pavilion rises to a height of 45 feet and includes 3,000 square feet under glass. It houses trees, shrubs, vines, bulbs, and ground covers that represent the diversity of plant life in warm temperate regions around the world. There, the climate is characterized by cool, wet winters and hot, dry, droughty summers. The temperature range in winter is generally between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. In the summer, it rises to between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Frost is rare, and fog occurs along western coastlines.

Warm temperate climates are found in the following regions and countries: The Mediterranean Basin; South Africa; Australia; New Zealand; Eastern Asia; western coastal regions of North America (mainly California); and western coastal regions of South America (mainly Chile).

Plants in these climate zones have special adaptations that allow them to survive seasonally harsh conditions, especially drought, and in some cases, fire. Here are some features to look out for: small, fine leaves, which help decrease transpiration and conserve water; hairy leaves, which accomplish the same job and capture water droplets from fog; silver leaves, which reflect solar radiation; and shrubby stature, due to regular recovery from burning. There are other adaptations that you won't see, notably the underground features of geophytic plants, which die back in the drought season and draw on the food reserves in their corms, rhizomes, tubers, or bulbs.

Here are some must-see plants in the Warm Temperate Pavilion: the agriculturally important olive tree from the Mediterranean region; the very distinctive bunya-bunya tree of northeastern Australia; and BBG's special collection of South African bulbs and other warm temperate geophytes, which bloom from late winter to early spring.

Text from: www.bbg.org/exp/stroll/conservatory_wtp.html