The Botanical Center is a welcome reprieve from the cold

Visit the tropics in Rhode Island

/URI Outreach Center

Come up to your window and take a look, please. Chances are you’ll see whiteness glaring back at you. Amid all that snow, wouldn’t it be nice to visit a tropical oasis? Not everyone can afford a trip to the Caribbean or a two-week vacation to lie on the beach in Florida. Why not enjoy a mini retreat on the beautiful Island of Rhode? Specifically, venture out to the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, the land of tropical plants and their habitat.

Open since March 2007, the largest public indoor garden display in New England encompasses around 12,000 square feet of greenery. Rhode Island Monthly’s Editor’s Poll voted the center “Best Urban Oasis” during its inaugural year.

Wondering what all the fuss is about? The greenhouses alone are worth a visit; The Conservatory and The Mediterranean Room boast more than 150 species and cultivars of plants. So, if Florida’s on your mind, you’ll appreciate the 17 varieties of palms this place has to offer.

Not to worry, if you start missing the cold, you can walk outside to check out the center’s outdoor garden displays that include such gems as the Winter Garden, which is located along the main path to the center.

Hardcore gardeners can take advantage of the center’s multiple educational opportunities. You can book a docent tour, an offering that’s available in partnership with the University of Rhode Island’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences Outreach Center. Call two weeks ahead, and let trained URI master gardener volunteers guide you around the center. Because the tours are offered according to age and interest, you will be among equally curious individuals.

The entertainment will consist of cultural and environmental information about the plants. You will learn not only about their uses, but also about their importance in our lives, their weird characteristics and their adaptation strategies. Who knows, maybe you’ll even pick up a tip or two about dealing with this weather we’ve had lately.

If walking around in a herd is not your idea of a good time, you can always take the hands-on approach. In addition to improving community, volunteers at the center enhance their gardening skills and increase their circle of friends. Working side-by-side with similarly minded people, they bond over planting, weeding and pruning, not to mention deadheading. Yes, spring is all about renewal, getting rid of the old and bringing in the new. Now that your attention is at its peak, go fill out the volunteer placement application: providenceri.com/efile/1236.

Looking for a more formal way to learn? You can participate in one of the horticultural and environmental programs the center holds every spring. In agreement with the city, the URI CELS Outreach Center at the Roger Williams Botanical Center offers many fascinating classes.

If you have a little one in your family who’s eager to know more about nature, why not talk to your child’s teacher about planning a Learning Landscapes field trip? Children love exploring plants and animals found in our neck of the woods; the center’s website includes some quotes that reveal their fascination with the exhibits.

Elementary schools introduce their students to the center to learn about mammals, seeds, birds, energy and ecosystems. The lessons are age-appropriate and absorbing. A clever component of the trip is the recycled pot bearing some seeds that the students bring back to their classrooms to continue the learning, which they document in their nature journals.

Wondering what other interesting events the center has in store for the visitors this spring? Its March calendar includes a master gardener info booth, which is available every first Saturday of the month; master gardener kiosk, which offers free pH soil testing; Lunch ‘n Learn that focuses on leaf biology; and a plant management class that teaches you all you need to know about pruning and mulching. April’s lessons focus on pollinators and flower planting, as well as perennials.

The most intriguing-sounding event, however, has to be Fairy Garden Week, which starts on April 18. Its workshops beckon with names such as Succulent Magic, Ladybug Release and Build Your Own Gnome Home. Who doesn’t want to do that?!

IRINA MISSIURO is a writer and editorial consultant for The Jewish Voice.