Saguaro Variations

The saguaro cactus - a symbol for deserts, inhabitant of the Sonoran desert. I took a number of pictures of them in the area around Tucson, AZ recently.

The first picture (above) is of a saguaro 'forest' on a rocky hillside. The pictures below are a reminder of the wildlife - particularly birds - that depend on the saguaro for food and homes. Note the way the plant tissue hardens/heals around the hole made by a woodpecker (right pcture below).

The pictures above show on unusual saguaro growing on the campus of the University of Arizona. It formed a very different structure at the top than the normal branches. There is a small branch near the base of the cactus (shown in the right picture) that looks more typical. In the pictures below, there is an atypcial saguaro on the left (unusual apex, holes where 'eyes' might be....think 'octo-saguaro'!) and a close up of the beginnings of a branch on a more typical saguaro.

Fort Worth Botanic Garden Christmas Decorations

The Christmas decorations in the Garden Center at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden were well done and prompted me to think about decorations more broadly. The first group of pictures are non-tree decorations....there were carolers, a Santa in green rather than a red, pots of poinsettias, wrapped packages and an elf that looked a bit like a 'nut cracker' without teeth. There were green wreaths above it all with red magic hats/rabbits/white gloves/wands. What kind of things to you do for Christmas decorations (other than the tree)? I do flags from the stair railings, a pine code wreath, Christmas cards from the last 15 years or so under plastic on the table, attached to all the metal doorways in the house and anywhere else I can display them. Cards are too beautiful to recycle after just one year!

The trees at the Garden are decorated with nature/outdoor themes: there was one with acorns and tendrils, another with birds and dragon flies, a stylized tree with flowers, and a tree decorated with golden deer with antlers and stars. I don't have a theme for my tree; my strategy has been more toward family history with some ornaments over 40 years old and others hand made by children (or me) documenting our talents over the years. It would be interesting to contemplate trees that are themed to match the interests of the people in the family. Some would be readily available - insects for an entomologist, stars for an astronomer or physicist, matchbox sized cars for anyone that worked in the automotive industry.

Enjoy the beauty of the season in your area!

Fort Worth Botanic Garden Conservatory

The Fort Worth Botanic Garden has a small conservatory that is a good place to wander through on a cold winter day....full of moist warmth and lush plantings. I selected some of the macro photos from my visit for the montage below.

I also enjoyed the gift shop and holiday decorations of the Garden Center building. The holiday decorations will be the topic of my posting tomorrow.

Book of the Week: Old Time Gardens (from 1901)

The black and white pictures in Old Time Gardens by Alice Morse Earle were the ‘hook’ for me. The Internet Archive has if you are willing to read it online; it’s the way I perused it - primarily for the pictures. There is also a version of the historical book published in 2005 and 'in print' from Amazon

Early on there is a photograph of the gardens at Mount Vernon (George Washington’s home) and I knew I would want to look all the way through. I found myself checking to see if some of the named gardens/locations still existed as gardens. One was a farm that was going through restoration - although the house was mentioned more prominently than the garden.

The other thoughts I have when looking at books of this vintage are historical. The book is a perspective of what the world was like for our great grandparents or great - great grandparents. It is heartening to understand that gardens in 1901 are something that gave joy then and the same types of places today are still pleasurable.

Model Train Displays in Gardens

Model trains are a popular display in garden conservatories at Christmas time. I've visited two recently: The US Botanic Garden in Washington DC and Brookside Gardens in Maryland.

The display at the US Botanic Garden is supplemented with magical habitats (castles and fairy houses) and models of well known buildings like Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington's Mount Vernon. There are traditional looking trains, Thomas engines and small cars that buzz very rapidly around their tracks.

The display at Brookside looks more traditional at first glance. Then little items like a yoda watching the train (upper right image below) begin to be noticed. There is a model of the Brookside conservatory included in the exhibit and it has a tiny model train running in a loop inside.

Trains among the foliage of a lush and warm conservatory is very appealing on a cold December day. Visiting one is a great December tradition to sustain or begin!

Road Trip Preparation - Reading

I am planning an extended road trip that will involve driving more than half way across the US and back. Along with plotting routes, checking info on the internet, and making hotel reservations, I’m doing some focused reading to prepare myself for the journey. Building up my knowledge about what the natural world holds has always been an interest of mine and a theme for much of my traveling.  Here are the favorite books I’ve collected through the years and am referencing now.

• Roadside Geology Series. This series of books came out in the 1980s and offers geological notes by mile marker along major highways. For the first half of the trip, I’ll be on my own so won’t be able to reference the books while I drive. Still – I’ve perused them enough to observe the geology along the highway crossing the Appalachians then the Mississippi River; skirting the hot springs of Arkansas then onto the relative flatness of a prehistoric seabed in Texas; climbing to the Edwards Plateau passing sand dunes of silicon then gypsum; crossing the Rio Grande rift.  On the way back, I’ll have a sidekick and the person not driving can provide geological commentary as we move along the interstate highway.

• Audubon Field Guides. The one I am looking at the most right now is the Field Guide to the Southwestern State. This well formatted book with lots of illustrations gives information on habitats, flora, invertebrates, and vertebrates. This is not the optimal time of year for botanizing….but whatever there is to see, I’m primed to see it.

• Field Guide to the Birds. The Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Adjacent States by Roger Tory Peterson is the one I am looking at now. The copy I am referencing is probably over 30 years old --- used frequently in the past and still worth taking.

• The Off the Beaten Path series of books is also on my bookshelf but I’m not referencing them much this time since I am sticking to the interstates to get to my destination as quickly as possible; maybe they’ll be a primary reference when I can spend more time off the main highways.

Have you done this kind of theme reading before a trip? If so – what was your theme and favorite book?

US Botanic Garden - Landmark Building Models

There is a wonderful display of models of the landmark buildings of Washington DC on display at the US Botantic Garden surrrounded by the lush plantings of the conservatory. Their architectural details are created with dried plant materials like bark, pine cone scales, willow twigs, grapevine tendrils and acorn caps. If you are in the Washington DC area between 11/24 and 1/2, it is well work seeing. 

Here is my picture of the model of the Washington Monument. It even has the windows and red lights on top!

A slide show of the Supreme Court building, the Jefferson Memorial ,  the Smithsonian castle, the Museum of the American Indian, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House is below.

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Book of the Week: The Botanical Register (1815-1828)

The 14 volumes of The Botanical Register that Botanicus has scanned and made available online are my featured ‘book’ this week.   The botanical images in The Botanical Register are well worth a look and there are approximately 90 of them in each volume. It is easy to look at just the ‘plates’ using the Pages list on the left side of the page. On the right side of the page is a control panel for zooming in or out and downloading. It is easy to move around the image by simply dragging the view window.  I am gleaning images for my desktop slideshow to play on my second monitor while I write!

Botanicus is a freely accessible, Web-based encyclopedia of digitized historic botanical literature from the Missouri Botanical Garden Library. There is a wealth of material on the site. A short list of some others I’ve enjoyed recently includes:

Orchid Albums from the late 1800s

Journal et flore des jardins

Abbildung und Beschreibung blühender Cacteen

The Botanist's Repository for New and Rare Plants

Rumphia

Historia fisica, politica y natural de la isla de Cuba

Annales de Flore et de Pomone

Squash and Gourd Images

These photographs were taken at Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvania) and Brookside Gardens (Maryland) in October 2011. The wonderful shapes and colors remind me of the abundance of the fall harvest.

Water Lily Pictures

These were taken at Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvannia) in September and October 2011. Bees seemed to enjoy the flowers!

Botanical Images - October 2011

These are some botanical shots taken at Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvannia) in October 2011. I like the shapes and shadows - the colors blending.