Every Wednesday morning, Como volunteer Paul Storch arrives hours before Como’s public opening, drains the water from the pool at the center of the Palm Dome, collects the coins visitors have tossed in through the week, and contemplates “Crest of the Wave,” the beaux arts bronze created by sculptor Harriet Frishmuth. 

While the sculpture, famously modeled more than a century ago by the dancer Desha Delteil, has been delighting Como visitors for decades, Storch takes a more critical view. A retired museum conservator, he dusts and details the iconic artwork, while studying how the statue’s wax coating is standing up to the elements, noting where minerals and moisture might be building up. From there, he’ll go on to clean and polish the bronze plaques and brass kickplates all around the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, one of the most beloved buildings on Minnesota’s roster of sites on the National Register of Historic Places.

Taking care of Como’s treasures is a team effort that requires the collaboration of Como’s maintenance staff, horticulturists, community volunteers, and outside contractors. Earlier this winter, all of those forces came together to tend to Como’s two most iconic sculptures, “Crest of the Wave” in the Palm Dome, and “Play Days” in the Sunken Garden. 

1). When decades of wear and tear split the copper tubes feeding water to the bubbling frogs on “Play Days,” Como entrusted their replacement to KCI Conservation, a Minneapolis-based art conservation firm. Following a short stay in the studio of conservators Laura Kubick and Kristin Cheronis, the statue was returned to the Sunken Garden for a coordinated treatment and training session about caring for the fountain bronzes.  

2). Como horticulturist Bryn Fleming helps give the statue a full cleaning, removing accumulated grime and buildup on the metal. During the process, older wax is stripped from the statue to allow conservators to reapply a new protective layer. 

3). Using a propane torch, conservators gently heat the bronze surface and apply a thin coat of hot wax. Once it dries, the surface is buffed for a second coat of cold wax. This layered wax system can protect the statue from moisture and other irritants for a year or longer.

The goddess of spring is the spark behind the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s latest flower show

The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s new horticultural curator, Ray Watson, takes a storytelling approach to plants, and for this season’s spring flower show, they’re finding inspiration in an ancient tale of love, loss, and renewal—the Greek goddess Persephone. Maiden of flowers, queen of the underworld, and goddess of new growth, Persephone’s story is so strongly rooted to the rebirth of spring that Watson couldn’t resist using this Greek myth as the creative spark for their first seasonal flower show in the Sunken Garden. 

Bringing a sustainability-driven and artistic lens to the exhibition, Horticulturist Rylee Werden and Horticulture Curator Ray Watson contribute a vision that pairs environmentally conscious practices with expressive planting design, and flower choices. Their work highlights innovative uses of seasonal materials, thoughtful resource stewardship, and immersive compositions that reframe the Sunken Garden as both a literary story and a living work of art.

“When you’re designing for this room, having a theme is an interesting creative challenge that forces us to work within the constraints of the story we’re trying to tell, and to narrow the plant options in a way that allows [visitors the chance] to really focus on some new and possibly unexpected choices,” Watson says. The show is the first in what will be a full year of seasonal flower shows all organized around the idea of the “Magic of Como,” from a fantastical  Alice in Wonderland–inspired summer flower show, to a mystical witch’s garden planned for autumn. “I prefer art to have a narrative that explains what the creator wanted to show and tell, and with stories like these, there are so many aspects we can illustrate through our flower selection.” 

Here’s how some of the flowers and features you’ll see in the spring show are connected to Persephone’s ageless story, told from Homer’s time to Hadestown. 

The first half of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s Spring Flower Show runs from March 20 through April 26, and is free to every visitor thanks to your contributions to Como Friends. Thank you!

Show you care this Valentine’s season with a very special delivery for the animal lovers in your life! Get your animal sponsorship sweetheart deal on this adorable trio of sloth, flamingo, or polar bear mini-plush—plus a Valentine’s card and gluten-free candy—for only $25. A great gift for nature lovers of all ages, sweeten the deal with two for just $45, or three for $65.

To get your last-minute Valentine’s minis, please visit the Como Friends Gift Shop at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory!

This season’s Winter Flower Show brings color and light into Minnesota’s most beautiful room

When Como Park Zoo & Conservatory posted a preview of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s new Winter Flower Show on social media, designer Isaac Zaman braced himself for a possible backlash: His first-ever flower show design coincided with the Conservatory’s plans to remove the Italian cypress that have long stood at the far end of the Sunken Garden.

“One of the issues we’ve always had with the Sunken Garden is that it’s not bright enough for many plants, and changing the room structurally actually lets in more light,” he says. “But we know people can get very attached to the way things have always been, so we were kind of nervous about what people would say. About half of the people who commented were like, ‘Why would you do that when they’ve been there forever?’, and the other half were like, ‘Oh, interesting…can’t wait to see what comes next.’”

The current Winter Flower Show, now on display through March 15, features a mix of old favorites and new featured plants, with a cool palette of South African veltheimia bulbs, lavender azaleas, pink and white camellias, tropical hibiscus, and more. “I wanted to pay homage to some of the history that’s happened in the room by bringing in some of our accent plants, jasmine topiaries and some lemon cypress. But I also wanted to move the room in a new direction where our interests can always be changing,” Zaman says.

One of the less familiar flowers visitors may notice are Love-in-a-Mist, Nigella damascena.

 “They’re a wonderful aromatic crop that also has these really funky flowers that look quite alien, and if they manage to go off and bloom in the room it’s going to be something very new,” he says. Visitors may also notice the brighter feel of the room, and vignette arrangements that invite viewers to take in the room at different elevations.

“My goal is to bring it all closer to the people, and to add vertical elements to the lower parts of the room that makes you appreciate the size of the space, and the light,” he says.

Nearly 700 poinsettias just made their debut as part of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s annual holiday flower show. After being relocated to Como’s Visitor Center last year to accommodate the construction of the Sunken Garden’s new ADA-accessible ramps, the beloved seasonal flower show has returned to its roots this season.

“I would say this year’s show is traditional, but with a twist,” says Como horticulturist Bo Akinkuotu, who designed the show, now on display through January 4. 

Fans of TikTok’s viral “Ralph Lauren Christmas” vibe will definitely like the rich red bracts featured in more traditional varieties such as Ruby Red, Pure White, and Jubilee Red. Visitors will also discover outside-the-box accent plants such as Duranta, Kalanchoe, Alyssum, Dusty Miller, and Green Envy poinsettias, an arresting chartreuse varietal.

“There are some camps that really prefer the familiar, traditional reds, and others that want to see something new every time they come to the Sunken Garden,” he says. “With this show, we’re trying to strike a balance by featuring some familiar favorites along with some new elements.”

As many home gardeners know, cultivating these temperamental tropical plants in the cold of winter takes careful planning and attention to detail. “They can be a little bit fussy as a houseplant, and most people probably don’t have the patience for it,” he says.

As in years past, poinsettias will be available for purchase in the Como Friends Gift Shop throughout the holiday season, with every sale helping support the plants and animals we all love at Como.

In fact, Akinkuotu started preparing for the show several months ago, planting more than 1,500 poinsettias and accent plants to create adequate replacements for plants that may fade or lose their leaves during the course of the show. During the final eight weeks of the growing cycle, shades were drawn over the poinsettia growing area to help bring them into bloom. Plunging the plants into darkness for at least 13 hours a day is the key to creating the brightly colored bracts that make them a holiday favorite. 

Como visitors can enjoy a profusion of poinsettias in the Sunken Garden, daily through January 4. Thanks to your contributions to Como Friends, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s five seasonal flower shows are always free to visitors. 

Horticulturist Rylee Werden plays with perspective in the first half of the Fall Flower Show with the Parallax View

The second half of the Fall Flower Show features a saturated palette and poisonous plants

After a sunny start to the Fall Flower Show, the mood in Minnesota’s most beautiful room has gone a little Goth, with the introduction of a new palette of saturated black, red, and purple chrysanthemums, and the third Mum color is a light pink and white bicolor flower, “Spring Pink”, to contrast the dark colors. 

“After the brightness of the first half of the show, you’ll notice a very different feel to the room with these deeper, darker colors,” says horticulturist Rylee Werden, who designed both halves of the Fall Flower Show, now on display through November 30. 

In keeping with the Halloween feel of the season, visitors have been very interested in a featured tomato-relative—the Naranjilla plant, Solanum quiotense—a variety known as “bed of nails” for the seemingly blood-letting spikes on its leaves. Complementing the dark traditional mums are purple datura, a poisonous plant that Werden grew from seed she collected at home. 

“They’re a favorite with visitors because they do smell great, but you shouldn’t eat them!” she says. 

Thanks to your contributions to Como Friends, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory is open every day of the year and is always free to visitors. The Fall Flower Show runs through November 30, and the Holiday Flower Show begins December 5. 

If you’d like a sneak peek at Como’s traditional Poinsettia display, Como Friends donors and members are invited to a Special Access Event on December 4.

Como’s fall chrysanthemum show has been a tradition since 1915, the same year that Como’s historic Como Conservatory first opened to the public. Around the world, the chrysanthemum is seen as a symbol of longevity and happiness, but in the Midwest, the fall flower’s rich coloring and spicy scent also remind us that winter’s not far away. “That’s why it’s a great time to slow down, and enjoy the changing colors, which I think visitors will see reflected in the room,” Werden says. 

Mums also signal the important role that fall’s flowering plants play in fostering healthy ecosystems. “In outdoor gardens, especially those with native plants, fall flowers are so important to feeding those pollinators before their big migrations,” she says. “Flowers like aster and goldenrod give our insects and our wildlife that last bit of juice or food they need to get them through the winter.” To see those connections, Werden suggests that visitors also stop by the Minnesota Garden, a collection of native and adaptive plants in front of Como’s Visitor Center, where horticulturists over-winter native plants to benefit birds and other wildlife. “It’s a more natural lens on what we do in the display garden to signal fall, with seed heads and plants that look ready for harvesting, like chard, broom corn, and celosia flowers.” 

Cultivars of some of these native plants will be featured in the second half of the Fall Flower Show, which will be on display from October 24 through November 30. Thanks to your support for Como Friends, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s five seasonal flower shows are always free to visitors. 

With help from a Conservation Champions grant, Como horticulturists are calling attention to one of Minnesota’s most valuable and vulnerable ecosystems.

With its glossy leaves and deep red and purple coloring, the pitcher plant is one of Minnesota’s most captivating natives. So captivating, in fact, that when insects are drawn into its invitingly vase-like body, they soon discover there’s no way out. Tiny, down-drafting hairs inside the plant make it impossible for prey to find purchase before being drowned and digested by this carnivorous plant. 

Native to Minnesota’s peatlands, pitcher plants are just one of the fascinating featured players in a trio of “mini bogs” floating this season in the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s Water Gardens. Created by Como horticulturists Bo Akinkuotu and Victoria Housewright, these miniature peatlands—and new interpretive signage nearby—are part of a larger Como Friends’ Conservation Champions project designed to call attention to the beauty, diversity, and environmental benefits of the region’s expansive bogs. 

A Growing Partnership

One of the best places to see this unique ecosystem is in northern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog, a three-hundred square mile peatland about an hour’s drive northwest of Duluth. Well known to birders who flock there to see northern owls, warblers, finches, and other boreal birds, the bog is just as impressive for its diverse plant life, which includes more than 750 species of wildflowers and terrestrial plants, trees, shrubs, grasses, mosses, and ferns.

“Bogs are having a moment and this is definitely one to see, so we came up with the idea of building a partnership with the Friends of the Sax-Zim Bog, a support organization like Como Friends,” says Housewright. Together, Housewright and Akinkuotu wrote a Conservation Champions request proposing a donation to help the organization buy additional land to conserve, as well as the opportunity to bring home a sampling of the bog’s most interesting plants to expand Como’s educational collections. “We wanted it to be a partnership. They’re the ones with the expertise and resources to protect and preserve the bog,” she says, “and here at Como we have nearly two million annual visitors that we can help get excited not just about this incredible ecosystem, but also about why conserving bogs matters so much for climate change.”

All Sax-Zim Bog photographs taken by Naturalist Kelly Beaster

Wild Collecting for Como

In June, the pair traveled north to work with a naturalist at Sax-Zim Bog who helped them to identify and wild collect some of the peatland’s most notable species, like pitcher plants and sundews, leatherleaf and bog bean, pink lady’s slippers and heart-leaved twayblade. To minimize impact on other plants, the pair took only tiny samples and cuttings. “You can’t really dig in an environment as soggy as that—instead you’re just gently untangling roots from one plant to the next,” Akinkuotu explains.

The team took home nearly 60 individual plants that are now taking root behind the scenes in Como’s 30,000-square-foot greenhouse. Once established, Akinkuotu says he’s looking forward to incorporating more of these bog beauties beyond the Water Garden, where the “mini bogs” have already been a big hit with visitors—and with volunteer ducks who’ve been caught nestling in the moss, grasses, and pitcher plants. 

“Even at this scale, you can see these mini bogs creating their own little biomes. We come out here to care for them every day and discover new spiders that have started webbing, more and more bugs that are attracted to these plants, and little tadpoles and frogs that will actually move in,” he says. “By bringing a little more attention to the Sax-Zim Bog, we want people to see how special these places are—and to know that conservation isn’t just something that happens far away. It’s right here at home.”

Bog plants in order of appearance: bog bean, bog rosemary, pitcher plant, bog laurel, star flower, Labrador tea, sundew, lantern sedge, cotton grass

Bursting with black-eyed susans, butterfly weed, and dahlia, the national plant of Mexico, the new pollinator garden surrounding Como Park Zoo & Conservatory’s seasonal Gates Ajar sends a strong signal: Monarchs Welcome Here!

Designed by Como horticulturist Marie Day, the historic mosaiculture features a high-contrast mix of more than 10,000 alternanthera and echeveria plants arranged into the shape of a butterfly’s wings. The surrounding bed is a pollinator garden full of monarch-friendly plants that keep these beneficial bugs going on their extraordinary 2,500-mile migration from Minnesota to central Mexico each year. 

PLANT LIST

Walls and pillars of Gates Ajar | Succulents: Echeveria (hens and chicks); Graptopetalum (ghost plant); Graptosedum; Moss (rose portulaca)

Flower beds and base of Gates Ajar | Cardinal flower; Marigold; Butterfly weed; Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan); Salvia (North American native cultivar); Dahlia (Native plant of Mexico); Cosmos (Mexican native cultivar); Zinnia (Mexican native cultivar); Sweet potato vine; Sunflower

Background and Draping | Alternanthera (Joseph’s coat); Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny); Vinca vine; Dichondra; Ivy

One of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s most interesting plant collections plays the starring role in this season’s Summer Flower Show

The Summer Flower Show at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory typically features hundreds of tropical annuals that require warm temperatures, lots of water, and frequent swap-outs as they bloom and fade. 

But this season, Como’s horticultural team decided to highlight a plant species that’s a little more sustainable, but no less sensational—the bromeliad. 

“We’ve never used the Sunken Garden as a showcase room for a plant collection before, but we have such a variety of bromeliads currently,” says Como Senior Horticulturist Ariel Dressler. “We always want to put plants in a place where they’ll thrive and be happy, and since the Summer Flower Show is our longest show of the year, we know our bromeliads will do well. They’re such a charismatic plant that to see them in mass is a real treat.”

In fact, bromeliads have long been a favorite for Como visitors, who recently bestowed the “Cutest Plant” award on a tiny pineapple bromeliad. With a collection first launched in 1975, The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory currently has 638 living bromeliads in its collection, from 350 different species, the best of which are often displayed in the understory of the historic Palm Dome. 

With more than 2,700 known species, the diversity of bromeliads is part of their wide appeal. Unlike other plants, bromeliads only use their roots for balance—all the water and nutrients they need are delivered through their leaves. And while many bromeliads only bloom once in their lifetimes, the mother plant can produce many new offshoots, known as “pups.” 

To create the sheer number of plants needed for the Summer Flower Show display, horticulturist Diane Rafats, and a dedicated team of volunteers, propagated hundreds of bromeliad “pups” from Como’s own collection, timing their care and life cycle to ensure they were ready to bloom in time for the show, which runs from June 13 to September 14. Meanwhile, horticulturist Rylee Werden went about taking cuttings from Tropical Encounters and the North Garden to amass the hundreds of tropical accent plants that are also part of the display. Horticulturists worked to acclimate the plants to the unique conditions of the Sunken Garden prior to their June debut. 

“Taking divisions of plants requires a little recovery period, because sometimes plants can be a little dramatic or wilty,” says Werden. “We also give them a little bit of shade and cooler temperatures as they move their way into the Sunken Garden, where it’s going to be hot, but not quite as humid as in a misting tropical greenhouse. Our goal is to get them through that drama phase before they go into the show and are ready for that bright sun and heat.” 

What’s the best time of day to come to Como? With more than a dozen free daily programs offered throughout the summer, the answer is all the time, and again and again. As summer heats up, make the most of every visit to Como with this roster of family-friendly programs and special events, all free to every visitor. 

Special Programs