US Botanic Garden in December 2014 - Part I

We made our annual holiday trek down to the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC on the last Sunday of the year. Their holiday display includes models of Washington area monuments constructed of natural materials such as pine cone scales, willows branches, grape vine tendrils and acorn caps. The slide show below shows 6 of the models. Some things to note: the dome of the Jefferson Memorial Is some kind of guard with the stem still attached (1); the Smithsonian Castle is very ornate (2) so I included a close up of the right side to show the stick-bark-seed construction (3); the National Museum of the American Indian is made mostly of shelf fungus (4); and the US Botanic Garden glows from within (5); the capitol is one of the larger models (and it doesn’t have scaffolding around the dome as the real one does right now) (6); and the Supreme Court building (7) is very ornate so I included a close up of the columns that were just as ornate and more colorful than the actual building (8).

The other part of the holiday display involves model trains. The structures to the side of the tracks change every year. This year it was light houses. The winding path through the exhibit was packed with people that had stood in line for over an hour to get in - many with young children. But the wait was worth it. The child in front of us had a ‘Thomas’ lunch box and was very excited to see the trains. The older couple behind us had visited many of the lighthouses and were surprised at how many of the models they recognized. These models are built of natural materials like the monuments. A good time was had by all!

 

Posts from previous holiday displays:

• 2011
•  2013 (part I, part II, part III) 

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 22, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Winter Lodging in the National Parks: The Choices Are Many and Intriguing - I’ve stayed at the Flagg Ranch in early spring….and it did snow while we were there. There are lots of other parks with winter lodging!

Prairie Ecologist’s Photo of the Week – November 14, 2014 - A series of photos of a Chinese mantis (feeding on a sphinx moth).

The strange world inside cheese - cheese=the castle built by microbes

IEA World Energy Outlook 2014: 5 Takeaways - None of the 5 seem surprising to me….only that they rank above other aspects of the world energy outlook. The International Energy Agency is looking out to 2040.

Scientists Have Climbed To the Bottom of the Mysterious Siberian Crater - The bottom is about 35 feet below the surface and is a frozen lake. The depth of the lake is estimated to be 35 feet deep, but it could be deeper. The picture look like it could be on another planet…but this is Earth and there could be more of these forming as the climate warms.

It Turns Out That "Longevity Genes" Don't Exist - Evidently the genetic underpinnings maybe real but they are so complex that this study that included 20% of the people alive today that are over 110 years old could not pinpoint anything that seemed like ‘longevity genes.’ One of the people even carried a gene variant that raises the risk of sudden death caused by irregular heart rhythms!

Epic 4K Sun Video, with Bonus Sunspot Tantrums - A video of the solar surface from the later part of October.

Butterfly Eyespots Deflect Predation - A video that shows just how effective the eyespots on butterfly winds are in saving their lives.

5 Reasons Why You Should Drink Ginger Lemon Tea - This has become my favorite hot drink as the cold weather sets in. I even like hot ginger water (no tea)! I make I in my tea maker (a coffee maker that has never ever made coffee) - putting the chunks of ginger in the carafe. I add lemon in the cup - if I add it at all.

Nothing fishy about health benefits of plant-based omega-3 fatty acid -The chia seeds I have for breakfast almost every morning are high in omega-3….and it’s a good thing!

Major Revamp Planned for D.C.’s South Mall - It’s a long way from happening but the proposal is more extensive than I expected. I want to take a lot of pictures of the ‘as is’ next time I go to the Smithsonian.

National Arboretum in August 2014

I posted about the magnolias right after our visit to the US National Arboretum a few weeks ago…but there was a lot more to see. There are so many areas of arboretum. Even the parking lot near the visitor center hosted large crepe myrtles with their shaggy bark!

There was a lot of construction around the administration building. The koi pond was dry but the garden around the fenced area still included a pine with forming cones standing at attention among its needles.

We headed to the China/Asian Valleys - having learned from previous visits to not try to see the whole Arboretum in one visit. The garden was shady and inviting on an August day. Many of the flowers had faded so the overwhelming color of the garden was green. We picked up a map but decided to simply follow the paths rather than look at it. The walk was easy but generally downhill toward the river (and we knew we would have to come uphill eventually).

I like the moon shape in the lantern among the foliage.

The one pink bloom left on a hydrangea was a welcome relief from the green only scenes.

The steps up to the pagoda were part of the climb back to the upper part of the garden…and the exit.

Just as the crepe myrtle bark in the visitors center parking lot - this flower with the ants on the border of the parking area near the magnolias!

Magnolias at the National Arboretum

We walked around the US National Arboretum’s Holly and Magnolia Collection. I never pass up an opportunity to photograph magnolia. The last time I got such an opportunity was a little over a year ago at Mount Vernon. The arboretum has quite a collection of large southern magnolias with blooms low enough for easy photography. This late in the season there are a lot of different stages of blooms and seed pods.

The southern magnolias I was photographing were full of color:

-- Glossy greens and felt browns of leaves

-- Green, red and black of seed pods

-- Fuzzy tan of the bud coverings, creamy white of the full flowers, and brown of the older flowers

I couldn’t resist some 10x magnified images of the pods

Or a flower near the ground that was attracting bees.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - July 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for July 2014. I’ve categorized them into 4 groups: CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Howard County Conservancy, travel and outdoors.

CSA

Kohlrabi is a new food for me this summer. It has been included in my CSA share twice and I’ve enjoyed it nutty flavor in stir fries. I may even buy it from the grocery store produce section after the CSA ends in the fall.

Fruit beety has become one of my favorite treats this summer - it is a healthy splurge to celebrate summer…..and a beautiful color to savor too.

Turnips are foods that I liked as snacks growing up but had eaten very infrequently for 30 years. I’m celebrating the re-discovery of how good a crunchy turnip can be.

Howard County Conservancy

Fairy Houses - The Howard Country Conservancy had an event for families to build fairy houses in the woods. I volunteered to help out with the crowd….and it was a lot of fun. The children were very creative with the natural materials of available!

Views in the Forest Shade - I celebrated the natural jewels in the shade on a summer day.

Bugs - Insects and spiders - oh my!

Travel

Travel purse - I found the perfect purse for travel at a thrift store: a pocket on the outside for my Kindle and boarding pass, good closure so nothing can fall out accidently. I am celebrating the bargain!

TSA Pre - I celebrate every time I get a boarding pass with TSA Pre; it is so much easier to go through security with shoes on and the laptop in the backpack.

Outdoors

Heron on the Lotus Pond - The second trip we may to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Garden in Washington DC - there was a Great Blue Heron that was so intent on fishing that there was plenty of time for pictures. The scene of bird and lotus were the celebration of the day.

Blooming sweet potato - Previous sweet potato plants have grown lots of foliage and potatoes….but this year the plant has blooms too!

Zooming - July 2014

We are in the full swing of summer - lotus and water lilies - summer wild flowers and fireworks. Those are major themes for the zoom collages this month. 

The first collage is of lotus at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

The water lilies are also from Kenilworth.

The squiggles from botched firework pictures actually turned out to be worth a collage too.

Last, but not least, a zooming collage from my walk around the Howard County Conservancy Honor Garden.

Water Lilies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

I’ve posed previously about the lotuses, dragonflies, and a Great Blue Heron at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens. Today’s post is focused on water lilies.

There are far fewer varieties that when the gardens were a commercial concern in the early decades of the 1900s, but the ones that remain are still beautiful. The storm had caused some damage to the lily pads but not as much as the lotuses experienced; there is an advantage for not being as far out of the water.

I found myself trying to capture images of dragonflies and bees on the flowers…..and trying to capture all the different colors. I picked the best images I captured for the slideshow below.

And I can’t resist included this golden dragonfly. It seemed different than any of the others.

Heron in the Lotus Pond

Yesterday we made another trip to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. There were still a lot of lotuses in bloom but the storm mid-week had snapped some of the leaves, buds and flowers. I enjoyed taking pictures of lotuses and dragonflies again then focused on water lilies (the topic of post to come) but the high point of the outing was a Great Blue Heron. The water level in one of the ponds was low and the bird was taking advantage of the easy pickings. There were people taking pictures of the heron all around the pond; the heron was too focused on food to notice.

As we walked up - the heron caught a fish. My husband captured the image below with the catch before the heron flipped the fish and swallowed!

Enjoy the best of the rest in the slideshow below!

Lotuses at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

As promised (in the dragonfly post earlier this week) - here is the post about the lotuses blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. Lotuses are quite a draw for the gardens. Most people had arrived with their cameras. There is something about the flower colors - the dark pink…to light pink…to creamy white - against the green of the large leaves and the curves of the foliage and flowers in the ponds that captures our attention now just as effectively as they did in ancient Egypt. So as you enjoy the flurry of the 4th of July --- here’s a slide show of lotuses to provide a calm interlude!

As promised (in the dragonfly post earlier this week) - here is the post about the lotuses blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. Lotuses are quite a draw for the gardens. Most people had arrived with their cameras. There is something about the flower colors - the dark pink…to light pink…to creamy white - against the green of the large leaves and the curves of the foliage and flowers in the ponds that captures our attention now just as effectively as they did in ancient Egypt. So as you enjoy the flurry of the 4th of July --- here’s a slide show of lotuses to provide a calm interlude!

Dragonflies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

The lotuses are blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC; I’ll post about them later this week. The dragonflies are the focus for today. There were so many of them when we were walking around the ponds yesterday that I managed to capture quite a few images. They like to perch on dried seed pods,

Folded lotus leaves and

The tips of lotus buds.

The sun reflects off their wings giving them a metallic gleam.

Sometimes their color is jewel like: powder blue, deep green, black veined gossamer.

Sometimes their thorax looks muscle bound

And sometimes it looks it has sub-segments.

This one has droopy wings.

This last picture is my favorite - the color of the uncurling lotus and the dragonfly perching for a few seconds before flying out again over the water.

Jefferson Memorial and Cherry Blossoms

The Jefferson Memorial has always been one of my favorites in Washington DC and I took quite a few pictures of it as we made our way around the tidal basin last week. The Roman Architecture course I am taking (Coursera) caused me to look at the structure more thoroughly.

Ionic columns

Marble steps at the front

Triangular pediment

Barrel vault with coffered ceiling at the entrance

Dome with coffered ceiling (no oculus)

It is one of the many buildings patterned on the Pantheon in Rome.

I enjoyed taking pictures of the building from different vantage points around the tidal basin….enjoy the views in the slideshow below!

Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC

The cherry blossoms were at their peak around the tidal basin in Washington DC late last week.

It was probably the best walk around the tidal basin in my 30+ years in the area:

the blossoms were near perfect, the temperature was pleasant,

there were lots of people but few crowds, and

the monuments (Martin Luther King Jr., Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson) were nestled in the blooming trees.

One recent change: the scaffolding that had been around the Washington Monument since it was damaged by an earthquake is gone (i.e. repairs are complete).  The flight path for Reagan National Airport is along the Potomac so I managed to catch a picture of a plane descending with the cherry trees and paddle boaters on the tidal basin.  Enjoy the slide show from our walk around the tidal basin!

Atrium Plants

This is my second post about my walk around the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center last week (the previous post is here). The resort has a large atrium area that has pleasant tables and benches amongst lush plantings. Balconies of rooms on the upper floors make up three sides of the atrium with the roof and the Potomac side letting in lots of light. The building was mostly neutral colors and the outdoors was frozen in winter so the deep green foliage and occasional colors were very welcome. There were Bromeliads,

Hydrangea,

Cyclamen,

And zantedeschia.

Ice Crystals

Late last week I accompanied by daughter to the last day of the American Astronomical Society conference held at the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center just outside of Washington DC on the shore of the Potomac River. She had a couple of hours of sessions to attend and I enjoyed the sights of the resort. There will be several posts over the next week or so from that experience.

It was a very cold day so we were bundled up when we arrived and I headed back outdoors as soon as we agreed on the place we would meet each other when her sessions concluded. I walked out to the pier jutting out into the Potomac from the resort property. In warmer weather, there is a boat that carries tourists across the river to Mount Vernon and Alexandria. It would be a great excursion with a family in warmer weather. But on this day in January, there were plates of ice in the water where the boat would have docked. I didn’t see any boats out on the river.

But the pier was still quite scenic for its vantage point for ice crystals at the edges of the ice plates and also to hear the ice moaning as the bright sunlight started the slow process of thawing the accumulation of ice of the past week when the temperature was well below freezing.

 

 

US Botanic Garden - December 2013 - Part III

This is the last of the posts with images from our visit to the US Botanic Garden back in December. I could not forego posting about the poinsettias. The conservatory is full of them during the holiday display every year - in baskets, surrounding models of Washington DC landmarks and

Snuggled around miniature towns.

But my favorite part of poinsettias is the center of flowers….and that part is the focus of the slide show below.

US Botanic Garden - December 2013 - Part II

The orchid room at the US Botanic Garden Conservatory is one of my favorite places - not matter when we choose to visit. It is always lush with vegetation and a variety of orchids.

My favorites are always the slipper orchids - with a backdrop of green, dripping with moisture.

It is easy to imagine this form translated to a slipper for a human foot with a rounded toe and ribbons to tie around the ankle. It is not quite clear what would happen to the hood.

Or what about imagining the slipper orchid as a design for a backpack to carry a baby - the ribbons would be used to attach it to the mother’s back and the hood would be a sunshade! Some of the slipper orchids even seem to contain padding that would fit well into encouraging this imaginary translation.

The smells of the orchids all blend together in the orchid room to make a rich perfume - noticeable and pleasantly rich without becoming overpowering. I can’t share that with you but the slide show below gives you more visuals of the orchids found there last month.