AN OLD VISIT TO THE NORFOLK BOTANICAL GARDEN IN VIRGINIA

My photos this week are from a trip I took to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia some time ago.  It is a lovely garden and one I can highly recommend if you ever find yourself in that area. 

We started at the Japanese Garden which was a gift to commemorate the historic trip of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Paul Snyder, the first official delegate to the Sister City association with Moji, Japan.

Further along we came across these lovely lion statues....

and another pond adorned with a carpet of water lilies.

This flower below is called Melampodium.

A nice garden of flowers but I didn't make a note of what they were.

In the next photo you will see my main purpose for going to the garden.  

I had heard about this plant and the explanation next to it read: "Once in a Lifetime: You are witnessing the only flowering of this specimen of the Century Plant (Agave Americana). The Mexican native may wait between 10 to 30 years to flower, depending on climatic conditions. This plant is 15 to 25 years old. After flowering the main plant will die, but small offshoots will continue to grow around the mother plant."  

As these photos are several years old, I am not sure if those offshoots are thriving. I do hope so!

Hopefully we will be able to visit the garden again one day, but as it is some distance away, and with everything else going on, I am not sure when that will be.

2017 CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP - APRIL 27TH, 2017

APRIL 27TH, 2017 

12.29 p.m.  Lovely to be in one spot for a few day. I love our traveling but staying in my pj's later than usual has been restful. Gregg went out and dropped a couple of items off at a dry cleaner, and brought me oatmeal from McDonalds.  He had his usual and picked up a latte from Starbucks for me. There is obviously food here but the first day it was hard to break the cycle of traveling. He picked up milk for his sister at Safeway and showed me a photo he had taken of a very artistic and colorful display of veggies.  Hello California!  I do love your artistic spin on things.

 We are using his sister's washer and dryer to catch up on our laundry. 

She had been busy this week and as we were two days early, had not finished the week out.  We went off to a book store Gregg had heard about in San Jose.  

2.56 p.m. we had fun at Keplers. His sister had given him a book about the founder, the reason for his interest. A very nice place not that we need an excuse to go into any bookstore. 

Gregg bought a book on philosophy. I purchased three relatively smaller books by Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets.  And of course there are always greeting cards to look through, ones that I don't see at home.  There was also a list of authors shown.

We ordered a drink at a place with seating outside. I can't remember its name now, but it was very pleasant sipping on a lemonade and looking through our purchases.  

Next on our list was the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford University.  We learned about it on Yelp.  

3:59 PM.  It was lovely, very interesting. There were lots of lizards running around, and birds. I saw a cactus wren. We didn't have the camera with the zoom lens, so it was impossible to get decent photos of them.  But I got a pretty decent shot of this bug with my cell phone.  I saw several of them on the cacti, and then found this one crawling on my top.

It is a Tussock Moth Caterpillar.  I put him back on the nearest cactus and was very careful not to touch it.  Some species tend to feel like you have been stabbed with fiberglass and can give a nasty rash.  I don't know if this is one of them but I wasn't taking any chances.

Such a pleasant place, first to take photos and then to sit on a bench in the shade and admire the surroundings.

We had difficulty finding it at first, and asked several people if they knew where it was.  We were on the grounds but no one seemed to be able to point us in the right direction.  We muddled on and found it not too long after asking the last person.

We spent a very pleasant hour looking at all the plants.  It wasn't a big garden but very enjoyable.

When it was time to go GPS took us on the back roads.  It was rush hour and the freeway was a solid red on their map.  Staying off the freeway made it a pleasanter ride home.

5.57 p.m.   We are back at the house and waiting for both sister and brother-in-law to come home.

9.43 p.m. I am tucked up in bed for the night. Gregg's sister and her husband took us to a very nice restaurant with Mediterranean cuisine. Neither Gregg nor I can remember the name of it now but it was a very nice restaurant, and lovely to catch up with them both.  We came back and chatted a little more and then we all went to bed. 

2017 CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP - APRIL 18TH, PART 2

My last post was across the road from the botanical garden where all those wonderful statues were.  When we left the hotel that morning it was on the cool side, but by the time we walked to the botanical garden it was getting rather hot. 

Their website is here.

We bought our tickets and were met by a lady called Sue at the entrance to the garden.  A very nice lady, she told us all about the place and we mentioned we had been here four years earlier, when it had only recently opened.  Back then we fell in love with it and vowed to return, so here we were about to see what had been added since the last time.  Sue told us that the best month to visit would be in July when everything was blooming, as you can see here in part, on the wall of the visitor center....

and also here.

We assured her we were going to enjoy no matter what was in bloom.

The cacti, of course, were thriving.  It is after all the desert and truth be told, what I love to see in this environment.

 There were a few blossom trees and flowers on show.

  They were lovely, most definitely....

but here again it was the cacti I looked forward to seeing.  

There is a small section of the garden surrounded by a colorful stone wall.  We sat on one of the two benches and studied the plants.  A pair of finches kept flying into a larger cactus, and when we took a peek, I could barely make out a baby(?)finch sitting on a nest.  It was in the cactus in the photo above.

Papa was standing guard nearby.

As we were thinking about moving, a gentleman walked up to us and started chatting. His name was Ken and his wife, Susan, had greeted us at the entrance.  He told us about the garden and answered all our questions with friendly patience.

Ken told us he had lived here for the last 10 years and was from Yuma. I asked him about the weather as we could see that there was still snow on two of the mountain peaks.  The garden is surrounded by the most incredible scenery.  He said he remembered it getting down to -20°F several years ago, although over the last few years the temperature is warmer, and it only gets down to zero. 

He told us not to forget to check out the other side of the red bridge as that area had been added since we were here. I remember it well, the bridge, but there had been nothing beyond.  We enjoyed the new section very much. The Red bridge itself had an interesting story, but you can check its whole history at this link.  

It used to be located near Las Vegas, New Mexico, maybe 40 to 50 miles from here. The road was subsequently changed by the highway department, and the bridge was just left in the chaos on a farmer's property. When the word got out that they were going to put a botanical garden here, the farmer donated the bridge and the garden moved it to where it is now. The bridge was the first thing put in before any of the plants.

Ken also told us that the little cactus garden we were sitting in was watered the first year but ever since, for the last four years, they have never had to water it again.  Mother Nature takes care of it. 

Across the bridge was a very interesting area.  A large area was geared up for children. Being a very visual person I loved the mosaic.

 

These are all taken on the other side of the red bridge.

For those who haven't seen an outdoor oven like this, it is called a Horno.  I forgot to take the information near the one we found at the garden, the heat from the sun had addled my brain!  But you can read about them here.  

If you don't want to follow the link, here is what I found at another site online.  

"Hornos are traditional pueblo, beehive shaped, adobe ovens.  Used mostly for baking and roasting, other cooking can take place at the opening while the horno is being fired.  A fire is built inside allowing the thick adobe chamber to absorb heat.  After two or three hours, coals are removed to a nearby brazier for other use, or to reheat the oven as needed.  Whatever is to be baked or roasted, is placed in the oven and the smoke hole and doorway sealed.  A horno can maintain a usable, though slowly dropping, temperature for several hours."

There was a wall behind the mosaic where children were allowed to use chalk to create their own masterpieces.

Scattered around there were interesting markers, like this one.  Hopefully you will be able to read it if you click on the picture to enlarge.

Also this one....

And one more.

It was wonderful exploring a place we knew from four years' ago.  

They had added a number of sculptures.

I loved this fence.  The style was used in many gardens in the area.

We had a momentary visitor before he hopped away.  Gregg was quick to spot him and to take this photo.  In fact, Gregg has taken a lot of the photos throughout this blog.

Another hour went by, we had checked out the other side of the bridge and were now only feet away from our car. 

I heard a voice and turned around.  Ken and Sue hailed us and were driving home. They waved and Ken said that he hoped we had enjoyed returning to the garden. We answered in the affirmative.

By this time we were extra hot and thirsty.  I had forgotten my hat and we had forgotten our water flask. They were still in the hotel room.   Gregg had seen a place not too far from our hotel that advertised Root Beer Floats. They are not my cup of tea but he hasn't had one in a long time and had a hankering.  He suggested I have a strawberry milk shake.  I don't have to blink twice but should have.  I don't do dairy and it's always so long between shakes I forget.  We thoroughly enjoyed our treats.  However.....

I had such a shock when we got back to the car. I had left my iPad on the bonnet, near the wipers. I don't even remember doing that. We had been gone for half an hour.  The thought of losing it gave me a horrible feeling but the fact it hadn't been taken, with so many people coming and going, made me very happy.  Thank you honest people of Santa Fe.

When we left that morning it was about 50 degrees fahrenheit.  It was now in the low 70s, but that heat seemed much hotter to both of us and it was nice getting back to our hotel, to our room for a break and where it was nicely air-conditioned.

It is 7.40 pm and we have just returned to our room after going downstairs for a cocktail. We each had a Margarita, and they gave us chips, with salsa and guacamole, but again we weren't that hungry.  After about an hour we went back upstairs to our room and another early bedtime.