The Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton -- the Louvre of gardens?

The Muttart Conservatory is like the Louvre Museum. The Muttart's four glassed pyramids look like mini versions of the Louvre's giant glass pyramid. The Louvre has many of the world's art masterpieces and treasures while inside the Muttart is a collection of the world's treasured plant species, representing the major biomes of the earth.

The Tropical pyramid, for example, holds delicate orchids, towering banana plants, and palm trees. A weeping fig presides over one corner, with lush plantings seen in tropical islands at its feet.

Humid and warm, the Tropical pyramid feels like being on some tropical island like in the Philippines or Hawaii. Actually, a Philippine gabi-gabi and a fruiting agridulce can be found in the Tropical pyramid, among many plants from the Pacific islands.

The Temperate pyramid somehow transports you to the Land Down Under. It has a good collection of Eucalyptus trees and swathes of various grass. The water lily-filled bog area welcomes visitors to the Temperate pyramid.

In its woodland floor and alpine section are many tiny flowering plants, some native to Alberta.

The pyramid has controlled climatic conditions so the plants go dormant in winter and burst into spring growth of green leaves and colorful blooms as typical temperate plants naturally do.

Cacti and various exotic desert species bring you somehow to desert places even as you're merely walking inside the Arid pyramid.

The public's favorite is the Feature pyramid. Explosions of texture and life characterize the Feature garden. The display is changed season by season.

From June 25 to September 11, the Feature pyramid is filled with many summer-blooming annuals, textured grasses, caladiums, and coleus set amongst upcycled "trash" and junque items.

A collection of painted tires create a tableau of plantings of bright yellow and orange annuals. Next to the tire display is a collection of ceramic plates looking down on unusual succulents.

A little closer to the entrance are displays of broken glass panes and windows, a metal bathtub, porcelain toilet bowl, a few rusty children's bikes, and other cast-offs that now adorn full beds of flowering plants and shrubs.

Many other junks anchor the many mini floral displays at the Feature pyramid. One person’s trash is another’s treasure is on display, as this year's theme is “Junkyard.”

Its resident superstar, a giant Amorphophallus titanium, nature’s tallest flowering plant, also known as the corpse flower, can floor you when it blooms, but make sure you can stomach its stench. It's not called the corpse flower for nothing. But its bloom is truly a rarity.

Muttart's corpse plant blooms for 24 to 48 hours once in two years, and if lucky once a year, in May. The bloom has a strong stench like rotting meat or dirty diaper and grows to a height of up to eight feet. The stench attracts flies needed for the plant's pollination. But it's not expected to bloom any time this year.

Green thumbs and non-gardeners alike definitely won't mind the $14.95 entrance fee to the Muttart Conservatory, but the humidity and heat in the Arid pyramid and the Tropical pyramid might be enough to speed up visitors through these sections and move them on to linger much longer in the Temperate pyramid and the Feature pyramid. The Temperate pyramid and the Feature pyramid are cooler, temperature-wise, even popularity-wise. Trust me.