US Botanic Garden - December 2013 - Part I

The US Botanic Garden conservatory displays model trains and models of buildings from natural materials during the holidays. This year the buildings included “World’s Fair” models as well as the usual Washington DC buildings.

We arrived just as the building opened at 10 on a rainy Saturday morning - and there was a line to see the display in the East Gallery. We had umbrellas and the line moved - not rapidly but never standing still. There were a lot of children that could hardly contain their excitement to see the exhibit and then once they were inside, the motion of the trains - the stops and starts, the whirring buy, one train that lost one of its cars but kept going - brought delighted giggles.

Some of my favorite models were the Lincoln Memorial

The White House with a swing set!

 And the Botanical Garden Conservatory

Enjoys some of the other sights of the special exhibit in the slide show below!

Brookside Gardens - December 2013

Brookside Gardens is the place for an evening walk through garden themed lights in December. I was there on a cold but sunny day when snow was still on the ground. The conservatory was lush with tropical plants (star fruit, bird of paradise, poinsettias, and bananas) and the model train display.

Outside, the dragon of lights looked relatively tame in the brightness of day and snow clung to the evergreens - and on some of the artificial flowers created with lights. There was a black squirrel sorting through the leaf litter. The Children’s Garden was cherry with colored lights on the white picket fence - but it was too cold to stay for long. There were very few people in the outdoors of the garden and the ones that were moved quickly along the path. It was a day for a brisk walk - or none at all.

Clark Gardens in Texas

Clark Gardens is located between Mineral Wells and Weatherford, Texas - a short side trip from the Interstate 20. What a treasure to find on our way back to the Dallas area from Tucson!

The high point of the visit for me was watching a Great Blue Heron stationed on a platform in one of the ponds. I’ll do a later post with more of my pictures. My sister insisted initially that the bird was a statue and it did stay very still for a long period of time - until it moved into this hyper-alert stance.

We were the only visitors to the garden on the day we were there. This jewel is not well-advertised. We probably would not have seen the snake on the pavers of the formal garden area had there been more people around. We simply walked way around him - letting him soak in the warmth of the June day.

I always enjoy water lilies but the added bonus I observed in this garden was a dragonfly laying her eggs in the pool.

I’ve included a slide show with the best of my other pictures. The model trains were a very pleasant surprise. They are depicting trains that were common to this part of Texas….and the use of natural materials to build the trestles and scenery around them was enchanting.

Clark Gardens is a place I’ll want to visit again.