Youth Education and Tropical Plant House (Memphis Botanic Garden)

Founded in 1953 in Audubon Park, Memphis Botanic Garden receives some 40,000 schoolchildren from the region each year. The glasshouse, presented in November 2022 as the centrepiece of a $5 million fundraising campaign, "Rooted at Park and Cherry", which also covered renovating the arboretum and orchard, three new meadows (one for monarch butterflies) and an outdoor kitchen, was approved by the garden's board in spring 2023 with a budget then given as $2.2 million. Construction began in April 2023. In September that year the garden announced that the building would be named for former Memphis mayor Jim Strickland, a long-time board member.

The design is by 4F Design (formerly Fleming Architects, Memphis); the glazed structure was fabricated by Prospiant (Cincinnati, Ohio), which had advised on the project since 2022, and the general contractor was Grinder Taber Grinder (Memphis). The final cost announced in 2024 is $2.6 million. The glasshouse was dedicated and opened to the public on Friday 3 May 2024, after a 10 a.m. ceremony, followed by a "World of Plants" family day on the next day. The garden presents it as the capstone of its five-year strategic plan.

The building is a contemporary horticultural glasshouse with a footprint of 40 by 80 feet (about 12 × 24 m), or 3,200 square feet according to its manufacturer, who gives an eave height of 18 feet (about 5.5 m). The garden itself quotes 3,400 square feet (about 316 m²). The roof is 1/4-inch (about 6 mm) laminated glass, chosen for safety, and the sidewalls are 1/8-inch (about 3 mm) tempered glass.

Passive ventilation comes from sidewall vents and a ridge vent; four large variable-frequency exhaust fans pull air through intake shutters, with evaporative pad cooling (cellulose pads) and a shade system for summer, and stainless-steel unit heaters for winter. Two oversized 12-foot (about 3.7 m) Dutch-style double doors let plants be moved in and out.

The building was set parallel to Cherry Road so that it is visible to passing drivers, and a lighting system lets it be lit at night in seasonal or event colours. An outdoor patio, an outdoor classroom and a horticultural prep room sit alongside.

The glasshouse holds more than 200 species or varieties of tropical plants, including at least 17 palm species and at least 22 edible or fruiting plants, together with several large trees. Cacao and rubber trees are among the plants chosen to show pupils what they use in daily life. When the project was presented in 2023, the garden also spoke of plants from South America, Africa and Asia: large foliage plants, ferns, rare orchids and fruit trees. It claims to be the only place in Tennessee bringing together, under one roof, tropical plants from almost every continent.

Identification and interpretive signs explain the origin and uses of the plants. The educational programmes cover biodiversity, ethnobotany and biocultural conservation. Seasonal displays (poinsettias, amaryllis, orchids) were announced before opening.

The glasshouse stands beside Cherry Road, just west of the Canale Rose Garden. It is open during the garden's regular hours and covered by ordinary admission. After dark it can be seen from the road, lit in seasonal colours.

It combines with the rest of Memphis Botanic Garden, which has many themed gardens: rose garden, Japanese garden, sensory garden, butterfly garden. The garden hosts the Memphis Orchid Society's annual show and sale, and stages the "Holiday Wonders at the Garden" light display at the end of the year.