Double Daggers of Death!

Coming to work is dangerous and exciting these days. Just look at that killer icicle!

The greenhouse and the butterfly house are THE places to be on these cold winter days. It is so wonderful walking into the butterfly house and smell the blooming ginger and see the flowers and butterflies. The bananas are way cool too. The orchids in the rainforest are so beautiful. They remind you there are more colors than white. I'm especially partial to the all the greenery we have. It is fantastic to see such lush life amidst the cold of winter.

Outside you take your life in your hands what with the double daggers of death and black ice and snow blindness and all but that is the thrill of winter. Right?

White Out!

This is what the Gardens looked like yesterday.

It is nice that the sun came out today. It is utterly amazing that we have so much snow on the ground. The plants are pretty happy with all the moisture. Me too.

Let It Snow!

I've been looking forward to today. It is the perfect day for making hot chocolate, baking cookies, snuggling up on your couch with a good gardening book and for enjoying the winter blooms. Winter blooms? That's right. You heard me, winter blooms. They are tiny and white and are on a plant called Erica or Heather. I'm not sure of the difference, just don't call it Carla. You can find it under the Turkish Cypress just east of the greenhouse entrance in the Color and Harmony Garden.

Look. Isn't it great? Well, if it were in focus it'd be great. These are teensy tinsy flowers we're trying to look at here. Yes. You are going to have to drink up the cocoa, get up off of the couch and mosey on down here to see for yourself. Some day I'm going to have a camera with a MACRO lense. The Erica/Heather but not Carla isn't the only thing looking good.

Check out the bamboo. That's right. I said bamboo.

Look at that red leaf. No wonder red and green are the official colors of Christmas.

Snap

Well, here we are in our first cold snap. I know the best thing to do when that happens. You guessed it. Visit the Gardens. The greenhouses are warm and tropical. The butterflies are flirty and friendly. And the bananas are banana-ing. See?

I see those teeth chattering. I see those blue lips. You really owe it to yourself to come on down. And as an added enticement as if butterflies, bananas and tropical temps were not enough, this Sunday is the first Sunday of the month and you know what that means. Admission is FREE!

See you at the Gardens.

The Problem With The Internet

The internet is great. You can see pictures of things thousands away from where you are. You can keep up with people you care about no matter where they are. Heck, you can even buy a waterproof MP3 player at three in the morning. Not only that but you can listen to music from local community radio around the corner or snooty jazz music from Paris. You can watch movies. You can learn how to prune properly. You can do all kinds of things but when you sniff your computer all you smell is plastic. And that is a great disappointment. To get over this disappointment I head to the greenhouses. In the butterfly house the ginger is blooming. Mmmmm. It smells so good! Unless you are Mercer. Yeah, he thinks it stinks. But what does a three year old know anyway? Hmmphf.

So here is the ginger. Looking lovely and smelling great. But don't stop just in the butterfly house. We have some orchids in the rainforest that are awesomely odoriferous.

These are the ones. They are called "Dancing Dolls" but they should really be called "Chocolate Delight".

So I recommend you quit sniffing your computer and come down to the Gardens and enjoy a truely wonderful olfactory experience.

Wow.

Wow, was I sick. There are some nasty germs running around out there. So becareful, drink lots of orange juice, eat right and most of all don't pick your nose. You really, really don't want to get sick and spend a week and a half in bed. Specially since when you get back to work you have all this work you have to catch up on before you get to do the fun jobs you really like, like blogging.

Here is something cool that happened while I was sick: the lighting.


Cool photo, huh? That's one of Shirley's. This next one is too. That is why Shirley's photos are in the calendar and not mine.

"Calendar? What calendar?" you might be asking. The WCBG calendar of course! It has 12 super cool photos of the Gardens. As I mentioned, a lot of Shirley's photos are in it but so are Denice's and one by Bob. They are ten bucks and all proceeds go to the Gardens. Get yours today because they are going fast. Who knows if any will be left tomorrow.