I have to confess I’m a serious chocoholic … dark, rich, smooth and high quality and I’m in chocolate heaven. Death by chocolate may well be on my tombstone. So when I heard that the new world-class glasshouse in the Royal Botanic Gardens had a botanical adventure through chocolate, I was curious.
The exhibition, entitled Sweet Addiction, takes visitors through the making of chocolate from the pollination of the cacao seeds by mosquitoes to the invention of the first chocolate bar in 1799. And at the end there is a chance to win a year’s worth of chocolate by guessing the number of Lindt balls displayed on a gigantic framed chocolate artwork! That’s a prize I definitely want to win.
The Calyx is a $17 million steel and glass cathedral for plants … a miniature Amazonian rainforest. Cacao trees, vanilla orchids, anthuriums, heucheras, palms and ferns thrive in the tropical humidity. The glasshouse features a living wall 51 metres long and six metres high, the largest in the southern hemisphere. Eighteen thousand individually potted plants are brilliantly orchestrated to create a kaleidoscope of colour and design, including a very contented looking cow … and chocolate mint.
The exhibition, entitled Sweet Addiction, takes visitors through the making of chocolate from the pollination of the cacao seeds by mosquitoes to the invention of the first chocolate bar in 1799. And at the end there is a chance to win a year’s worth of chocolate by guessing the number of Lindt balls displayed on a gigantic framed chocolate artwork! That’s a prize I definitely want to win.
The Calyx is a $17 million steel and glass cathedral for plants … a miniature Amazonian rainforest. Cacao trees, vanilla orchids, anthuriums, heucheras, palms and ferns thrive in the tropical humidity. The glasshouse features a living wall 51 metres long and six metres high, the largest in the southern hemisphere. Eighteen thousand individually potted plants are brilliantly orchestrated to create a kaleidoscope of colour and design, including a very contented looking cow … and chocolate mint.
Pod of the Cacao tree
Bromeliad
Anthurium - larges genus of the Arum family
Daisy the cow
Living wall containing 18,000 potted plants
The glasshouse is a living gallery and a theatrical and educational arena all enveloped in one inspirational space for ever-changing exhibitions.
An enchanting, inspiring and delightful place to spend an hour or two. Oh and it's cheaper if you book online.
And look what I found later wandering through the Botanic Gardens … stunning Hippeastrum
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