If you take the train all the way to Oyster Bay and cab for another 10 minutes, you'll find yourself at the Planting Fields, which during the height of the Gilded Age, was owned by insurance and railroad executive, William Robertson Coe and Mary Huttleston, the daughter of millionaire industrialist Henry H. Rogers, who had been a principal of Standard Oil. William and Mary's interest in rare species of trees and plant collections turned the estate into a botanical marvel and in 1949, years after the untimely death of Mary, the 353-acre estate was deeded to the state of New York in 1949 to become a state park.
Much like the Biltmore Estate, which I visited in South Carolina, this featured dazzling displays of architecture, landscape layout, and of courseβthe exquisite conservatory, which I could have lingered in for the remainder of my existence. Enjoy a little piece of the Planting Fields.
Many familiar species abound: Maranta, Burro's Tail, Begonia, Dieffenbachia, Croton and more.
A might Philodendron crawls skyward
A Senecio rowleyanus, or string-of-pearls, hangs in the foreground flanked by a plethora of plants
Bromeliad and Tillandsia rest on a tree
Palms, Philodendron, Anthurium and Bromeliad abound in one of the many greenhouses at Planting Fields
Fell in love with this green waterfall of a specimen: Medinilla sedifolia. I used to have one, but killed it quickly for lack of light!
Pretty certain this is a Bromeliad billbergia, though I don't know what variety.
Now entering the Bromeliad Room
Anthuriums abound!
The grandeur of the main greenhouse
The exquisite coloration of Caladium
Codiaeum, Caladium, and Calathea. A very alliterative planting!
Into the orchid room
The cacti and succulent corner.
