Holiday Closing

Lyman Plant House will be closed this year for the Smith College holiday break from Monday, 12/23/24 through Friday, 1/3/25. We will reopen the first weekend in January on Saturday the 4th at 9 am. 

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2024 Spring Bulb Show

Botanic Garden

Saturday, March 2, 2024 10 a.m. - Sunday, March 17, 2024 4 p.m.

bulb show
Location:
Lyman Conservatory
For:
Open to the Public

It’s that time of year again! That time when Lyman Conservatory provides a preview of spring colors and scents. With over 9,000 bulbs brought to flower, you won’t want to miss this year’s Spring Bulb Show. The show will once again feature a student-commissioned art installation. Building on the success of last year’s inaugural commission, five students were selected this year through an open call. 

The 2024 show runs from Saturday, March 2 through Sunday, March 17. The plant house will be open for extended hours for the show: 

  • 9 a.m.–10 a.m. daily, members only hours
  • 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Sunday–Thursday
  • 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Fridays & Saturdays

Please note that during the show we pause our guided tour options to accommodate the crowds. If you do plan to visit as a group of 10 or more during the show, we ask that you let us know through our online scheduler. 

Bountiful Blooms

The Spring Bulb Show has been a tradition at Smith since 1901, when it originated along with the college’s first horticulture class. Take a look at some more recent displays of springtime splendor.

Daffodils and tulips

Tulips and daffodils offer a picturesque scene at the 2022 Bulb Show.
A display of daffodils

A display of daffodils at the 2017 Bulb Show.
A student in a mask near a display of flowers

A student helps prepare for the virtual Bulb Show during the pandemic, in 2021.
Tulips at the Bulb Show

Tulips of nearly every hue imaginable are regulars at the Spring Bulb Shows.
banu cropped

2024 Spring Bulb Show Opening Lecture

Don't miss this year's opening lecture, For the Love of Plants: Plant Worlds in the Shadows of Empire, with Dr. Banu Subramaniam. Drawing on recent interdisciplinary scholarship in feminist, postcolonial and indigenous studies, the lecture reflects on how gender, race, class, sexuality and nation shape the foundational language, terminology and theories of the modern plant sciences, and how botanical theories remain grounded in the violence of their colonial pasts. 

Friday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m., with a preview of the bulb show at Lyman to follow.

Learn More

Parking

We know that parking can be a challenge during the show as there is no parking on College Lane, and our two visitor's spots are blocked off to serve as a drop off location. 

On-street parking can be found on Elm Street near central campus. Additionally, there are visitor spots in the  Smith College parking garage on West Street, metered parking on Green Street and a long-term municipal lot behind the Forbes Library on West Street. On weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays, permit-only campus lots open up for general parking.

Visit the Smith College parking map for options. 

Original Exhibit in Church Gallery

Be sure to check out The Bell Jars: Lyman Conservatory and Sylvia Plath’s Botanical Imagination while visiting the bulb show. Using archival materials and Plath’s literary work as a guide, the exhibit invites visitors to inhabit Lyman as Plath once did. Cross-pollinating the humanities and natural sciences, it examines Plath’s botanical imagination and Lyman’s role in cultivating it.

Learn more
Plath Poster