Green and serene

On a chilly afternoon, the best-kept secret of UMass might be a little building tucked behind Thatcher Road. From the outside, the windows are fogged with moisture and painted white, shading the interior from the harsh rays of the sun. Stepping inside on a crisp day, I am subsumed by a cozy humidity. The air has a familiar scent of moist soil. 

I’m in the Durfee Conservatory, a small greenhouse packed to the gills with distinct varieties of plants. Nearly as old as UMass, Durfee was built in 1867, just three years after the purchase of land for Massachusetts Agricultural College. It has a storied history—in its early days, Durfee was host to an epic weightlifting squash, and its plants were once saved from a fire by students armed with snow. 

Traditionally, the role of a “conservatory” is sort of like a museum for plants—the idea is to collect and display a diversity of species. In one room, cacti of all shapes line shelves. Another room houses bonsai with limbs coaxed into curves and bends with finely wound wires.

Another visitor, a local eight-year-old, was eagerly speed-walking around the greenhouse with Formosi in tow. “This is his favorite place,” his grandmother, Pat Wilczynski, reports. “His bedroom is full of plants.”  

I asked her grandson to show me his favorite plant, and he led me to some potted jades with little interest in talking to me—he was much more intent on exploring the greenhouse.

Durfee employs two student workers, and one, Ethan Dong ’26, was tidying up some dead leaves when I started chatting with him.  

“My family used to garden, and it gives me a sense of comfort,” Dong says. Even though he's working, the mechanical engineering student says that Durfee is relaxing and helps him destress from his coursework.