Ott's Exotic Plants - Schwenksville, PA - Greenhouses and Nurseries on Waymarking.com

I drove by Ott's Exotic Plants very early on a sunny autumn morning and a blur of bright color flashed out of the corner of my eye. I turned around to investigate and found one of the most beautiful autumn displays I have ever seen. I snapped a few pictures and left because it was too early for them to be open but when I got home, the curiosity was burning in me and I had to hop in my car and make a return visit during their operational hours. What I found was a very inspiring place for more than one reason.

Ott's was founded by Godfrey Ott who came to America from Germany when he was 8 years old. Shortly after his family arrived, Godfrey contracted an unknown illness which paralyzed him from the waist down. Godfrey literally crawled through life after that as he never was fitted with braces until he was 28 years old. He never attended school and couldn't read until he was in his 40s and could only ever write his name. But despite all of these shortcomings, Godfrey worked on the greenhouse and nursery business that his family established and eventually took over running it. Godfrey married his wife when he was 32 years old and together, they ran the business and had six children in the first seven years of their marriage.

Today, the greenhouse is as much of a tourist spot during the autumn flowering season as it is a greenhouse. Around 1967, Godfrey had an idea of how to handle a pile of excavated soil which had built up behind his business where weeds were growing. He planted 10,000 chrysanthemums there, from 100 different varieties. The result is so beautiful and so many people stopped to view the Mum Mountain that Ott's was forced to double their parking area. Today, one can walk to the top of Mum Mountain, cross the ridge and walk back down the other side.

After finishing the mum tour, enter the life size Hobbit looking house to see the greenhouse portion of the business. The entrance contains a lot of tools needed for gardening and seasonal items. Walking back through the entrance room leads one to the flowering greenhouse, which as one might guess is just as colorful as thr mountain is outside. From there enter the 50 foot tall conservatory which is filled with a permanent collection of green exotic plants, some as tall as the conservatory itself. There is also a full size waterfall in this room and again, there are steps that lead above this waterfall so one can get a bird's eye view of the greenery below.

When leaving the conservatory, one will walk through the indoor plants greenhouse. So green and so rich feeling and so tempting.

If in the area, especially in autumn, this spot is definitely a place to visit, even if, like me, you have a totally black thumb.

Type of Greenhouse: Retailer of plants for home use - flowers, tropicals, etc Type of Cover: Plastic panel What is the shape of this greenhouse: Traditional - vertical walls and a gable roof Unique features: Autumn mum display If you selected Other - describe it.: Not listed If you selected Other shape please describe it: Not listed

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.