All things botanical, Part 1

 

One of the best things to come out of a recent long visit by two of my Adorable Granddaughters (besides just the joy of having them close at hand after over a year of only Zoom contact) was my purchase of a membership to our wonderful Botanical Garden. Since I knew they'll be looking for outdoor activities, I figured, why not? As it turned out, my only regret was that I hadn't done this years ago—what a great place it is!

We actually made several visits, which is one reason for the "Part 1" in my title. These photos are from our first trip, when "Origami in the Garden" was their special theme. (They have an exciting new special exhibit theme up now, and I'll be showing you shots from that soon.) Various folding-paper-like sculptures were on view throughout the Garden, and made for some great photo opps.

There were some variations on the theme, too, like these colorful sculptures...

...and this tiny one, in the absolutely fantastic children's area that we discovered on our second visit...

Yes, the place has so much to offer, and all of it wonderful, that we had trouble seeing it all, even with all of our trips there! For example, we kept trying to find time to get into the glass conservatories that looked so inviting, but didn't make it there until our third visit (photos to come):

Although we did get to the Piney Woods section early on; it has a nice, shaded trail, and lots of examples of one of my favorite botanical features—cypress knees!

And we were able to make a quick admire-and-sniff tour through the impressive rose garden, as you can see at the top of the post and here:

Every color rose under the sun is on display here!

I'll close with one of the cute little playhouses featured in the children's area. If you ever have grandchildren visiting, you have to take them to this Garden!

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Wordless Wednesday: some guys look like they made it, some not

 

More about our time in the national news...

Although the political and financial fallout from our record-setting week continues apace (see the comparisons with older records in the graph above—WOW!) our temperature is back to normal early spring levels, thank goodness.

But I thought you might find it entertaining to see evidence of a couple of our mitigation efforts undertaken during the freeze, which, I might add, were largely successful in keeping our pipes from bursting. Our major mitigation effort involved putting a small portable heater under the house, aimed at the pipes supplying the only faucet that ever stopped working for us. After a while under this heat treatment, happily, the water returned. But it involved my having to get under the house to turn the heater on; the resident of our house who normally would undertake this chore has developed a rather severe case of claustrophobia in his old age and couldn't even think about doing this, but for me it was a piece of cake. Here I am venturing down behind the refrigerator

You also have to realize that the windows and doors in our almost-90-year-old-house were never designed to keep these kinds  of temperatures out. Walking past a door to the outside that we hardly ever use, I was struck by the coldness seeping in around the edges. So I improvised this ridiculous-looking insulation...

It did seem to slow the flow of cold air somewhat!

The north-facing windows in the house are particularly drafty when the wind comes from that direction...like in a historical cold snap. Here's what one of them looked like on the inside, as I awoke on the coldest morning:

Fortunately, we had some melting during the days, even when, according to the chart above, we didn't quite get above freezing. That made for some cool icicle displays...

Now that things are sort of back to normal, what is currently most eye-catching is the widespread damage done to ornamental plants in yards around my neighborhood. I can't help but think that some of this stuff isn't going to come back. This is our front yard:

On my walk yesterday I even saw a hedge of freeze-damaged bamboo; I thought that stuff could withstand anything!

Our nandina, whose berries were so cutely encased in ice before, are showing some signs of damage. But I hope they can recover...

The cruelest aspect of all, however, is that no matter how dead everything else looks, this pesky, sticky stuff (see the bright, cheerful green below) seems to have thrived on the chill. I know I've learned what this is called before, but can't remember it. It goes wild in the yard about this time of year and is very irritating to gloveless gardeners' hands. I was so hoping it would be knocked out by the freeze...oh, well, maybe the roaches were?

Wordless Wednesday: Jack Frost