By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

Probably the best small conservatory in the West, the W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Tacoma, Washington, starts its 100-year birthday celebration today.

Perfumed by daffodils, citrus, and tropical rhododendrons, this Victorian glass house’s beds are packed with orchids, azaleas, tulips, and clivias. It has the ambience of a florist shop, but everything, from palms to giant ponderosa lemons, are alive and growing. My favorite time to visit is on an icy winter day. You enter the front door, inhale the fragrance, and your glasses instantly fog up in the warm, humid air. Just relax a minute: the fog on your lenses dissipates to reveal the most colorful jungle you can imagine.

Starting today, the Metropolitan Parks District of Tacoma is populating it with glass art in exhibits that will be showing for the next six months—kind of a glass-in-glass gallery. Combine this with with occasional live music and plant sales, and you have a birthday bash to remember.

The conservatory is at 316 G Street in Tacoma’s Wright Park. It's open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 to 4:30; also open when public holidays fall on Mondays. Admission is free.