Phipps Conservatory - Chihuly Exhibit

Chihuly at the Phipps: Gardens & Glass is a keystone event during Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass! a collaboration of over 70 cultural and community organizations. This year long celebration was created to honor the significant role that glass and glass art play in the vibrancy of the Pittsburgh region. It's been a wonderful year long event...visit http://www.pittsburghcelebrates.org/.

We took many photos - I'll continue to post each day this week. Plan to visit - the event ends the in early November. Don't miss out on this. Take the children, your parents, your camera....do price line.com (really inexpensive hotels - we always stay at Wyndham - dog friendly and under $90)...make it a weeekend visit. Pittsburgh is a lovely city. Personally I could spend 2 days at the Phipps.

To answer Margie's question about how did Pittsburgh get such a magnificent conservatory, and more photos!

The former Pittsburgh Garden Center took on a greater profile when it merged with the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in January 2001. However, the institution's legacy dates back to 1935 when it began in a former shelter house in Schenley Park, across from the Conservatory. Its mission expresses a desire ''to work with people throughout the region to build gardening and horticulture skills and to increase environmental awareness and appreciation of the aesthetics of landscape and floral design.'' To that end, numerous classes are offered on topics such as botany and gardening, as well as certification in floral design. Since 1947, the Garden Center has resided in the former carriage house of the late R.B. Mellon, located adjacent to the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts on the expansive greenery of Mellon Park. The site has gone through several remodeling projects and now includes auditoriums, meeting rooms and a greenhouse. Its library contains more than 2,800 books and features a reference section and horticulture journals as well as seed and garden supply catalogs. As for the Gardens themselves, They offer an exciting array of lush tropical plants, palms, orchids, ferns and succulent plants, seasonal flower shows and butterflies.