It’s
a cool June morning and the banks of curtains that had been pulled
across the high panes of the John and Rhea Smith Greenhouse to
conserve warmth through the night are opening like giant petals
in response to the morning sunshine. Since the nighttime heat
tends to make air too dry for such humidity-loving flowers as
the greenhouse’s several species of orchids, foggers emit
a fine spray of mist in one of the rooms. Both indoor and outdoor
temperatures are carefully recorded for a complete archive of
data being kept since the facility opened last September.
And because it’s Saturday, no one—not
faculty doing research with hybrid roses, not Ornamental Horticulture
students studying propagation, not the third-grade visitors who
want to know if there are any man-eating plants - is around.
“The greenhouse is completely computer-controlled,”
says John Vanderploeg, professor of Biology and Ornamental Horticulture
Technology program coordinator. “Although it’s not
a commercial facility, it has all the bells and whistles a high-tech
production greenhouse would have.”
A
Climate for Growth
The greenhouse is named for John Smith, who
joined Ferris in 1953 as special assistant to President Victor
Spathelf, served as vice president for business operations and
retired in 1971 as interim president. Both he and his wife Rhea
played important parts in both campus and community life during
those years. It was in his business operations role that Smith
may have had his greatest impact on both “town and gown.”
“When they first came here, there was
only one building, the Administration building,” says the
Smiths’ daughter Pat Shaffner, whose contributions helped
make the greenhouse a reality. “He had to buy the land for
the Institute’s new buildings. Ferris has grown physically
and also has developed new courses and programs. He really put
a lot of life-blood into Ferris, so it’s great to see the
University progress the way it has. It’s really a working,
living University.”
That emphasis on life and work is reflected
in the setup of the greenhouse. A classroom in the Science Building
opens directly into the facility. Some of the programs that utilize
the greenhouse, such as Ornamental Horticulture, would come as
no surprise. But Professional Golf Management?
“We have turf samples here, including
some southern varieties that
I use in my labs as examples,” explains Vanderploeg. “I
teach a class with the PGM students, who need an opportunity to
see those grasses, too.”
The new greenhouse also gives students the chance
to get hands-on experience with the facility’s technology.
“The whole first unit of the landscape
plant management class I teach
is greenhouse management,” says Vanderploeg. “Students
who might be interested in doing greenhouse production—either
in their own businesses or for someone else—get to learn
all about the control systems, everything that’s associated
with greenhouse plant production. Most of the production systems
are pretty similar, so it’s important that it’s set
up with the kind of systems a commercial facility would have.”
Cuttings
|
A few facts about greenhouses
The Roman emperor Tiberius had one of the world’s
first greenhouses constructed around 30 A.D. to satisfy
his craving for out-of-season cucumbers. Built before
the invention of glass windows, the greenhouse was made
from thin sheets of mica.
By
the 17th century, technology allowed for the construction
of large and elaborate greenhouses. The greenhouse (or
“orangery”) at the Palace of Versailles, was
500 feet long, 42 feet wide and 45 feet high.
Many
photographs—perhaps millions—taken during
the Civil War were lost when the glass photographic plates
used to make the images were sold to gardeners for greenhouses.
The
world’s largest greenhouse is Biosphere 2, located
30 miles north of Tucson. At up to 91 feet tall and encompassing
more than three acres, Biosphere 2 simulates five separate
environments: rainforest, desert, savanna, marsh and ocean.
|
The
Well-Tempered Greenhouse
Most of us probably think of a green-house with
its expanse of glass as a delicate structure. The poet Theodore
Rothke, who hailed from Saginaw, Mich., and whose father owned
a greenhouse there, wrote famously of that feeling in his poem
“The Big Wind.” He described a storm “Creaking
the cypress window-frames, /Cracking so much thin glass/We stayed
all night/Stuffing the holes with burlap.”
The John and Rhea Smith Greenhouse is sturdier
than that. The tempered glass panels are strong enough to walk
on, and if a big wind does threaten, the computer is programmed
to close any vents that might be open so that they don’t
get damaged.
Roethke’s poem describes the greenhouse’s
“full cargo of roses.” The John and Rhea Smith Greenhouse
has that too—hybrids bred from R. virginiana, which are
part of a research project being conducted by Associate Professor
of Biology Roger Mitchell. Another Biology faculty member, Scott
Herron, is growing wild rice as part of an effort to re-introduce
the plant to the Muskegon River watershed.
“We’re also building an orchid collect-ion,”
says Vanderploeg, “and although we don’t have any
man-eating plants, we do have some insect-eating ones.”
The combination of strength and delicacy makes
the greenhouse a most appropriate legacy for someone who helped
see the University through some hard times.
“It was important to me that the greenhouse
be named after my parents,” says Shaffner. “It keeps
their memory alive. They both loved gardening—I can’t
think of anything more fitting.”
