My phone says there's no chance of rain today but it sure does look cloudy. Still, I'll take rain over what the rest of the country is getting. My aunt in WV has been posting pictures of all the snow and ice. My cousin somehow made it to work; she said she went about 10mph and it took her 35 minutes to clean off her car! Ken, I don't envy you at all and I will wish for warm Florida weather to mysteriously drift upward toward you all.
Mom's getting "tortured" at physical therapy right now but we're going to the movies later. Mom's probably looking at a knee replacement, but they're trying everything else first. Dad's out in the garage woodturning with a friend that he's teaching.
My bosses at MOSI built a new exhibit; I'll have to take a picture of it on Sunday. Connected to the butterfly garden is our pond exhibit. We have these big collection tanks outside that filter the water naturally through the pond we have inside where we have various plants, turtles, and fish living. It's supposed to teach people how wetlands naturally filter our water or something. I need to read the signs we have posted; it's been a while.
But now they've constructed a mini-garden behind plexiglass that they're calling the "Savage Garden". It's hooked into the water filtration system and features wetland plants like a Toothpetal False Rein Orchid (Habenaria floribunda), various Tillandsias mounted on driftwood, some tiny Catesby Lilies (how big do they need to be to bloom, I wonder), and this week they added various carnivorous plants including my favorite Hooded Pitcher Plants! I'm going to have to get my books out and read up on all these beauties so I can educate our guests. I've seen most of these plants while hiking Brooker Creek Headwaters Preserve so I'm somewhat familiar with them already.
The pond itself is looking rather spectacular as the Blue Flag Irises (Iris virginica) have just started blooming. I'm not much for plants that only bloom once a year, but there is something to be said for the joy of anticipation and knowing they will only last for a short time. We also have some of that White Ginger in the pond but it hasn't bloomed yet this year. It will soon, I'm sure. Here's some pictures I took of the Irises on Sunday (and I remembered to add them to the plant database)!
That orange thing in the third picture is one of our koi fish. If any of you ever want to tour the gardens at MOSI, let me know and I will volunteer as your personal guide. You don't have to pay admission if you don't go in the building so don't worry about that.
I just saw that Pam posted while I was typing so let me add that one (the only?) good thing about riding the school bus was riding around this time of year with the windows down and smelling the orange blossoms. Also, what are pine fines?
