Roger Williams Park Botanical Center

Long before the Botanical Center opened, Providence's Parks Department grew its plants in greenhouses on Park Avenue. They were demolished when Rhode Island Route 10 was built.

The city then built a new facility in Roger Williams Park, with Torrado Architects as architect and Searle Design Group as landscape architect. The Botanical Center opened in March 2007 and is the newest building in the park. Many specimens were brought over from the earlier greenhouse displays, including most of the cacti, agaves and aloes. Apart from the large palms, all the planting was carried out by park staff. The centre is run by the City of Providence, with support from the Roger Williams Park Conservancy.

The building is made of glass and steel. Its centrepiece, the Conservatory, covers 12,000 square feet (about 1,115 m²) and rises 40 feet (about 12 m), enough headroom for large palms. It connects with a second glasshouse, the Mediterranean Room, and with two smaller greenhouses, one turned into a 'Flavor Lab' and the other into a children's play area.

Sources differ on the total area: the city and the Roger Williams Park Conservancy give more than 23,000 square feet (about 2,140 m²) of indoor gardens, whereas the Wikipedia article gives about 12,000 square feet, which matches the main conservatory alone. The temperature is held at 70 °F (about 21 °C) all year. Fountains, a fish pond and a small waterfall line the paths.

The glasshouses hold more than 150 species and cultivars, including 17 kinds of palm that form shady paths through the year-round tropical warmth of the Conservatory. Much of the succulent collection, the cacti, agaves and aloes, came from the old municipal greenhouses. The holiday season brings displays of poinsettias.

Outside, the centre is surrounded by summer and winter gardens, a rose maze, a newly planted pollinator meadow and beds of plants native to New England. A volunteer-run produce donation garden grew more than 3,500 pounds of food in a single year. Maintenance avoids chemicals in favour of biological controls, including goats to keep invasive plants in check.

The Botanical Center is at 1 Floral Avenue in Roger Williams Park, close to the Victorian Rose Garden. Families will find the Lil Sprouts play area in one of the smaller greenhouses, and the centre can also be hired for events. An hour is enough for the glasshouses; allow longer for the outdoor gardens, at their best from spring to autumn. In winter the steady warmth of the main conservatory makes it a welcome refuge, and the holidays bring poinsettias. A visit combines easily with Roger Williams Park Zoo, in the same park.