Brookside Gardens Conservatory

Brookside Gardens was laid out from 1965 in Wheaton Regional Park, on land that had belonged to the Stadler nursery. The original concept was an arboretum devoted to trees and woody plants. After visits to botanical gardens in New York and a stop at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania in 1966, the designers concluded that a garden open to a broad public would serve better than an arboretum alone.

Hans Hanses, the commission's landscape architect, developed the overall plan drawing on European ideas gleaned while training in Germany and Switzerland. The conservatory itself was designed by Carl Schoening, Montgomery Parks' chief of horticulture, because the commission could not afford an architect. The garden opened to the public on 13 July 1969 and drew 35,000 visitors in its first year.

The original complex comprised offices, a horticultural library, a subtropical display house and a small propagation glasshouse, now called the south house. The first chrysanthemum show was held there in October 1978, and the Wings of Fancy live butterfly exhibit opened in 1997. A new production greenhouse was completed in 2018 in the staff service area. Montgomery Parks now announces plans to design a renovation of the display conservatory.

The conservatory is not a stand-alone building but the core of a small complex. At opening it combined offices, a horticultural library, a subtropical display house and a small propagation glasshouse, today's south house.

Its designer, Carl Schoening, drew it himself; the commission had no budget for an architect. The garden's overall design, by Hans Hanses, draws on European concepts he learned in Germany and Switzerland, and the 1966 visits to New York and Longwood redirected the project from an arboretum to a garden.

The sources consulted give neither the dimensions nor the precise structure of the building. The conservatory is surrounded by unusual conifers and groundcovers. Plant production has had its own greenhouse in the service area since 2018.

The conservatory presents a collection of tropical and seasonal plants, with themed exhibits through the year. The original programme called for a subtropical display house, and the tradition of floral shows is long: the first chrysanthemum show dates from October 1978.

Since 1997 the Wings of Fancy exhibit has kept live butterflies in the glasshouse, one of the site's regular attractions.

The displayed plants are grown partly in the production greenhouse, expanded in 2018. The sources consulted do not detail particular specimens.

The conservatory stands at the heart of Brookside Gardens, a 54-acre garden in Wheaton Regional Park, close to the Brookside Nature Center.

Beyond the conservatory, the garden offers the areas added from 1972, including the Fragrance Garden, the Rose Garden and the Gude Garden. Autumn, with the chrysanthemum show, is an exhibition season established since 1978. The conservatory can also be booked in advance from Montgomery Parks for photo sessions (weddings, engagements, family portraits), which makes it a sought-after setting for family events.