Logee's Greenhouses (1892 Fern House and five other houses)

William D. Logee founded the business in 1892 in Danielson, at first as a cut-flower concern, before turning to tropical and unusual plants. His first greenhouse, now called the Fern House, is presented by Logee's as the oldest; the company's history page shows a photograph of it around 1900. In 1900 he bought a small Ponderosa lemon tree from a Philadelphia grower, shipped by train, collected by horse and buggy and planted directly in the ground of the original greenhouse, where it still lives. The official website's pages do not agree on the name of that house: the history page speaks of the Lemon Tree House, whereas the visiting page says the Lemon Tree House was built as an addition to the Fern House; Wikipedia places the lemon tree in the Fern House.

After William died in 1952, his daughter Joy Logee Martin and her husband took over; the first catalogue dates from the 1930s and the firm became known for begonias, scented geraniums, herbs and rare tropical plants. Their son Byron Martin, the third generation, turned Logee's into a destination for visitors, built more greenhouses and two propagation houses and, when the energy crisis hit in the 1970s, heated the whole range with wood. After burning more than fifty cords, he built a passive solar greenhouse and a half-underground herb pit. The present owners have also won grants for energy efficiency and solar power, which led to an energy-efficient production range.

The official website presents six greenhouses linked into one route. The Fern House, from 1892, is the oldest; it is kept above 60 °F (about 16 °C) all year. The Lemon Tree House, an addition to the Fern House, stays above 62 °F (about 17 °C). The Long House, built in the 1920s for the cut-flower business, has side benches for potted plants and, down the centre, garden beds dug into the ground where plants grow in the soil; it stays above 60 °F. The Potting House, where most of the potting was originally done, stays above 63 °F (about 17 °C).

The Herb House is an underground greenhouse, protected from frost by temperatures held above 38 °F (about 3 °C) in winter. The Big House, recently rebuilt, has winding pathways; its temperatures may fall to 40 °F (about 4 °C) in winter, since many plants need a chill period to flower. The history page speaks of glass greenhouses that were costly to heat, and a tourist board describes the Fern House as the original historic glass greenhouse.

The Ponderosa lemon tree, in the ground since 1900, remains the star: it bears 5-pound lemons every year, and a plaque tells its story; the official website says thousands of young plants have been propagated from it. Around it the Lemon Tree House gathers citrus and award-winning orchids. The Fern House holds ferns, hibiscus and terrarium plants, large banana trees and mature staghorn ferns; in spring, according to the website, it hosts the flowering of a rare climber, the jade vine.

The Long House brings together flowering, rare and fruiting plants, including the firm's own hybrid begonias, but also jasmines, carnivorous plants and a sensitive plant that reacts to touch. The Herb House offers bay, lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme, the Potting House passion flowers, spice plants and tropical herbs, and the Big House cacti and succulents, geraniums, camellias, clivias, a ten-variety grafted citrus tree and a 150-year-old kumquat carrying seven grafts. The founder's eldest son Ernest Logee grew more than 400 varieties of begonias; his hybrids are brought back into production from time to time.

The greenhouses are at 141 North Street in Danielson, Connecticut. Shop and greenhouses are one and the same place: visitors walk through them like a winter garden where nearly everything is for sale, and the visit suits a quick pass or a long stroll between the six houses. Logee's recommends arriving half an hour before closing and welcomes visitors who take photographs, under guidelines published on its website.

Spring, with the jade vine bloom the website announces for the Fern House, is a fitting moment. In the catalogue, the nearest greenhouses are the University of Connecticut botanical conservatory in Storrs, about 31 km as the crow flies, and the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center in Providence, about 39 km.