Campus Greenhouse Opens for Spring 2025

The SUNY New Paltz Greenhouse, located at Coykendall Science Building, has reinstated their open hours for the spring 2025 semester. On select hours Monday through Friday, all students are welcome to visit the greenhouse when in need of a mental break to touch the plants, smell the flowers or even take home their very own succulent. 

The greenhouse has been a staple of the SUNY New Paltz campus for decades, with pot tags dating back to 1967. However, it wasn’t until the arrival of Professor Laura Wyeth to the biology department in 2016 that the greenhouse became what it is today – a lush botanical garden meant for the educational and leisurely enjoyment of students and faculty alike. 

“I had worked in plant nurseries and botanical gardens, and I saw a lot of potential in what was here,” said Wyeth on her arrival at the greenhouse. “I really wanted to just simply start out by taking the plants that were already here and trying to get them into a situation that was a little better suited for them, and that meant grouping plants a little bit because we have a lot of microclimates.” 

While Wyeth has done immense work in revitalizing and tending to the greenhouse, she is not the only one who has done so. Every semester, Wyeth takes on new biology students to assist her efforts in the greenhouse and help maintain it for those who use it. “We also do use the greenhouse as an educational and student resource. We have a lot of different things going on where different classes utilize it. It’s also open if you want to try to figure out how to collaborate with clubs,” said current working spring assistant Jess Serna when asked about the purpose of the greenhouse’s open hours. 

The greenhouse protects a variety of plant groups, contained to their own microclimates. “These are mostly house plants … We get a lot of gifts and donations, so we do propagations from those. I wouldn’t say that we have one particular family,” said Serna. Some of these plants include the Norfolk pine, a conifer tree that since Wyeth’s arrival has bursted out of its pots and rooted to the ground’s soil and the Mother of Thousands, a succulent that is named very literally for the tiny plant buds that fall from the leaves edges. 

Though utilized by classes for the most part, the greenhouse has always been there first and foremost to take care of New Paltz’s students. “I think it’s hard to be on campus all the time and not really have access to the outside world as much as you would like to have. I think the greenhouse provides a really nice opportunity to have a moment of mindfulness and serenity in all of the craziness,” said Serna. So, next time you find yourself in need of some old-fashioned grass touching, the greenhouse is open for you.