Winter temperatures in Maine can easily slide toward -15˚F at night, but in the coastal town of Penobscot, 2,500 rare tropical orchids are thriving at A New Day Farm, thanks to a geothermally climate-controlled environment. The flowering plants (which aren’t actually planted in soil) are oblivious to the cruel outside weather, as they are housed in the farm’s four sturdy, well-insulated greenhouses, each simulating a different tropical climate.
The climates simulated in the greenhouses are hot and humid, humid intermediate, dry intermediate, and cool. “Every orchid has its own specific needs. That’s part of the challenge,” said Denis Roessiger, who founded the farm in 1993. “Mother Nature is tough to replicate. It requires a lot of homework to figure out what makes them happy.”