Chris Baker’s ultraviolet light addiction isn’t something he can cure in one of DeKalb’s tanning salons, partly because his interest isn’t in getting a tan.

But Baker said he gets his fair share of the sun’s rays working with plants every day as a gardener at NIU’s greenhouse.

“Of course I enjoy my work,” Baker said. “I wouldn’t be working in one if I didn’t. There’s also a certain gratification from playing God. I can create life and I can take it away.”

The greenhouse, which has been at NIU for about 30 years, is located at Montgomery Hall. Baker said he has been asked a variety of funny questions regarding the greenhouse.

“There’s nothing smokeable growing in the rooftop greenhouse,” Baker said. “I get asked that at least twice a semester by students. It contains mostly prairie plants.”

Other plants in the greenhouse include orchids, bedding plants and ferns. Vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers also are grown.

Baker said a common misconception about greenhouses is that they are a healthy environment to work in.

“Greenhouses are mentally healthier to work in, for sure,” Baker said. “Actually, the typical greenhouse is not that healthy of a place to work in because of the pesticide use in particular. Pesticide usage has been cut by 90 percent since I started here. With that in mind, compared to other greenhouses, I would consider NIU’s much healthier to be in.”

Although the greenhouse can be toured by request, the primary function of the greenhouse is a research and teaching facility for the biology department. The greenhouse also has space used for growing plants for the laboratory sections of classes such as plant physiology and the biology of land plants.

“The NIU greenhouses are essential to teaching and research in plant biology at NIU,” biology professor Gabriel Holbrook said. “There are three main units: one as an extensive penthouse on the roof of the building, a second on the southside second level attached to the outside of Montgomery Hall and a third unit known as the Plant Molecular Biology Center greenhouse.”

Holbrook said the greenhouses have a vital role as a facility for growing plants used in the research programs of about 11 different laboratories in the department of biology and the Plant Molecular Biology Center.

“Numerous faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students performing independent research projects rely on the greenhouse for their year-round production of diverse plants for use in their experiments,” Holbrook said. “Research areas include plant molecular biology, plant molecular evolution, plant genetics, plant physiology, virology, ecology, conservation, systematics and prairie restoration.”