Olcott Park Greenhouse

Address

Directions

On north side of town, in Olcott Park, next to the Heritage Museum.

Phone

Run by

Owned by municipality of Virginia, MN; run by the non profit volunteer organization Friends of the Greenhouse. 

Date Established

Date Established
1930's

Designer

Built by Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)

Size

40 acres (Olcott Park) 45,000 sq.ft.(greenhouse)

Cost

No admission fee, but donations are welcome

Peak Season

Winter

Peak season (notes)

Greenhouse – Year-round

Region

Northern

Garden Type

Glass House and Conservatory

Extras

  • Free street parking and within the park 
  • Picnicking in Olcott Park

Comments

This greenhouse dates from an era when the Iron Range, the town of Virginia and its Olcott Park were in their prime. The park boasted many floral displays with elaborate carpet-bedding designs made up of numbers, words and symbols, all created out of plantings of flowering annuals. The three-room greenhouse that supported all that activity remains and now supplies plants for somewhat more modest plantings in Olcott Park and other municipal sites. The two smaller side rooms of the greenhouse are the non-public propagating / working rooms, but the larger central room with over 4,500 square feet contains an impressive, extensive and beautiful collection of exotic plants for the public to enjoy. It’s the only greenhouse with these sorts of treasures between the Iron Range and the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The plants range in size from small specimens to mature grapefruit trees bearing fruit. There are very well maintained collections of cactus and succulents, large agave, ficus and screw pine specimens. Most plants are labeled.

Garden photos
outside fountain with large pines in the background
greenhouse plants in greenhouse
garden plants with greenhouse in the background
fountain inside the greenhouse