On the east end of campus, a glass building glitters in the sunlight.

The Meadow Brook Greenhouse, a national historic landmark along with Meadow Brook Hall, raised money for restoration with its yearly plant sale on May 14.

No one seems to remember how many years the greenhouse has had the sale, but it is well-established.

“The surrounding community knows about this plant sale,” volunteer Diane Gurzick said.

A group of 24 volunteers raised thousands of plants from seedlings to a sellable size — most were a few inches to a foot tall. Flowers, herbs and some vegetables were for sale. Volunteers said they used few fertilizers and chemicals.

Each year the greenhouse raises $10,000-$12,000 from the plant sale and by selling flowers to Oakland University to decorate for events. The greenhouse uses about $13,000 per year – OU pays for what the greenhouse can’t. 

“We pretty much just keep it afloat,” said Terry Stollsteimer, associate vice president for facilities management at OU.

Most of the time problems are solved as they pop up, but sometimes more involved projects require more insight. Three years ago, some of the glass was replaced and the caulking was redone. It cost about $19,000.  

The greenhouse could use a lot more help — up to $800,000 worth, Stollsteimer said.   

“It needs some tender loving care,” volunteer Kay Zdroj said.

The greenhouse is low on OU’s priority list, but that does not stop this dedicated group of volunteers from working hard to give it new life.

Some of the volunteers, most of them retirees, have helped out for about 30 years and have been gardening for longer.

Paul Newcomer started volunteering in 1992.

“I like it because it’s social,” he said.

Tom Yazbeck is a younger volunteer. The junior at Michigan State University helps out when he’s not at school.

“I’m learning a lot,” Yazbeck said. “This is a very pretty building and I’m a person that appreciates history.”

The greenhouse has a room of tropical plants next to a room of cacti. Such diverse plants can be housed thanks to air and temperature control. The greenhouse is oriented to take maximum advantage of the sunlight and has a plumbing system of hot water for warmth in the winter. The volunteers work year-round.

“The people that work on it take great pride in doing these things,” Stollsteimer said.

The building is as packed with history as it is plants.

Records are fuzzy, but Kimberly Zelinski thinks that Matilda’s first husband, John Dodge, built the greenhouse from a kit. Some of the blueprints were drawn by engineers from Dodge’s car company.

OU’s founder Matilda Dodge Wilson liked to garden and raised prized chrysanthemums, carnations and vegetable seedlings, said Zelinski, director of museum operations and advancement at the hall. People can still buy the offspring of Matilda’s jade and ghost plants.

“They want a piece of Matilda yet,” volunteer Loraine Dinger said.