While in Asheville,
we visited the North Carolina Arboretum -
a 434 acre natural treasure with 65 acres of
cultivated gardens and 10 miles of hiking and bike trails.
Unfortunately,
fall is not the season to check out the gardens,
although the Bonsai Exhibition Garden was
mighty fine.
(Post of the Bonsai Garden forthcoming.)
We started our visit
in the Baker Exhibit Center,
which was devoted to the wide range
of bird species found throughout the grounds
of the Arboretum.
Click to enlarge
to see all the different species
of birds here.
Now,
on to the bird exhibits,
which I thought were rather ghoulish.
I overheard one young mother
explaining to her 4 year old
that all the little birds were "sleeping."
Oh, the lies we tell
to protect our children.
Next we checked out
the Exhibit Greenhouse.
Bird of paradise.
I have a bird of paradise plant
I grew from seeds I bought
at the Orlando airport maybe 13 years ago
when we took the little Hawthornelets to Disney World.
It has yet to bloom.
This is the quilt garden.
You can see that it might have been
a little more colorful in the spring.
Stay tuned for the Bonsai Garden.
Wonder why they decided to display the birds sleeping instead of "in flight" or "perched." Money?
ReplyDeleteTry a jar of pickle juice on the bird of paradise. Mine is finicky it bloomed for years and then stopped for about 4 years and now started again. The pickle juice worked with my gardenias so I tried it on BOP and seems to work.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteI'll try it.