Volunteer Park Conservatory

This guide to the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle opens with a question: what happens to a rare orchid after federal wildlife agents seize it from smugglers. You'll hear how confiscated orchids, cacti and cycads end up living out their lives inside this 1912 Victorian glasshouse, alongside the personal collection Anna Clise donated in its early years. It also traces the building's own near-collapse decades later, when a rusted iron frame and high winds put the whole structure at risk. Stand in the Palm House and see if you can tell a donated plant from a rescued one.