As the burgeoning of springtime at Michigan State University brings thunderous rain storms, midday snow flurries and strong gusts to campus, one secluded spot presents a refuge from the unpredictable weather.

The MSU Plant Biology Teaching Conservatory and Greenhouse is a temperature controlled facility designed to showcase a wide ranging botanical collection to the general public. The building features three sections which present flora from around the world in their optimal environments.

Visitors can walk past the cyan and purple colored Jade vines that drape the front of the evolution room, through the arid room that contains giant aloe vera dispersed among the cacti and take a seat beside a small waterfall under the shade of trees adorned with fruit and flowers in the tropic room. 

The plant biology department also holds a monthly tea hour in the conservatory on the third Friday of each month.

The conservatory’s sole faculty caretaker is Greenhouse Coordinator Lisa Murphy, but she isn’t the only person tending to the plethora of plants in the greenhouse’s possession. This semester Murphy has been working alongside 15 student volunteers who help water, repot, and trim plants.

For Emma Oazabal, a plant biology and environmental biology senior who’s volunteered at the conservatory for three years, the facility’s selection of plants has long been part of its appeal.

“I come from Mexico, so a lot of plants that are here I can see in my backyard,” Oazabal said. “So, I get homesick a lot here, but (there’s) also a very comforting community feeling.”

Plant biology junior and student volunteer Brooke Brown, meanwhile, noted how facility provides a piece of summer regardless of the season.

“I think people just don't really realize that you can have that year round if you come to see this,” Brown said.