Friday, December 28, 2018

Friday, December 28, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. Each Christmas season we took Mattie to the US Botanical Gardens. I am not sure what was more special..... seeing all the greenery, or the fact that it felt like you were walking into a humid hot house. It was delightful to the senses in the bleak winter. Mattie loved this plant representation of the US Capitol. 


Quote of the day: Each year's regret are envelopes in which messages of hope are found for the new year. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson




Today we visited Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. It is an 83-acre botanic garden, with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including palms, cycads, flowering trees, and vines. The garden was established in 1936 by Robert H. Montgomery, who was an accountant, attorney, and businessman with a passion for plant-collecting. He named the Garden after his friend David Fairchild, a significant plant explorer. Fairchild's travels brought more than 20,000 plants to the United States, including mangos, alfalfa, nectarines, dates, horseradish, bamboos, and flowering cherries. David Fairchild retired to Miami in 1935, but many plants still growing in the Garden were collected and planted by him.

We started the Garden tour on a free tram tour. Fortunately the tour was free, because the sound speakers did not work on the tram and none of us could hear the guide talking to us for the 30 minute tour. Which was unfortunate. 

Do you love the bromeliad plants placed together to form a Christmas tree?

The beauty of the Gardens! The foliage is impressive, well taken care of, and peaceful. There are many ponds throughout the gardens which attract crocodiles and water birds. 

A butterfly house called "Wings of the Tropics" features exotic butterflies mainly from Central America, South America and Southeast Asia flying freely in the 25,000 square foot Conservatory. Butterflies are released twice a day in the morning and afternoon. Among them are longwings, Morpho, and owl butterflies. The USDA-approved facility has butterfly feeding stations, which include a variety of overripe fruits such as banana and mango. 

Inside the conservancy, we met and chatted with a volunteer who was lovely. Ann explained to us that the chrysalis of butterflies are shipped here. The butterflies mature in the chrysalis and once they hatch, they are released into the conservancy. However, she said that most of these butterflies only live 3 weeks at the most. 

Ann even explained that the butterflies expel a red liquid called meconium (the same sort of stuff that babies in the womb expel). This is a completely natural occurrence. Meconium is the leftover part of the caterpillar that was not needed to make the butterfly. This is stored in the intestine of the butterfly and expelled after the butterfly emerges.

The giant owl butterfly. You can totally see how it got that name!

The stunning Blue Morpho. He was elusive and really did not want to be photographed. But I was patient. 

 Do you see this cute hummingbird? 

One of my favorites!






















There is a concrete walkway leading around the landscaped enclosed area where we walked freely among the butterflies. There is a triple sets of doors that minimize the risk of escape of any of these butterflies that do not belong to the local fauna.

This glass creation is called End of the Day Tower and was created by the American glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly. In the sunlight, it is absolutely stunning, colorful, and seems to blend in with the vegetation.

My mom and I posed with a statue of Marjory Stoneham Douglas. Marjory is considered Florida's most celebrated environmentalists. She fought to protect the everglades and Florida wildlife.