Datura was in full bloom at Longwood Gardens in September. The large trumpet flowers sometimes seem very delicate - and other times frilly. As buds - still compact - they appear waxy. On some varieties, the flowers hang downward and sway like bells in the breeze; other varieties have flowers that point upward showcasing all their layers. Enjoy the collages I made for the purple, pink and yellow daturas. 
The water features at Longwood Gardens are an integral part of the gardens during the warmer months. Sometimes my favorite is the Main Fountain Garden. We have often stayed for the lights on the water on summer evenings so I find them less exciting during the day.
Other times the Eye of Water is my favorite just because of the sheer volume of water flowing over the structure and then downhill toward the Chimes Tower.
But recently - the Italian Water Garden has been my favorite. Many years ago when we first went to Longwood Gardens, the Italian Water Garden was open and people wandered around on the grass among the fountains. It was beautiful but crumbling. After a renovation, the fountains look much better but the area around the gardens is gated.
I’ve always liked the water stairs, the large central fountain, the smaller fountains along the edges shaded by trees, and the frogs contributing arcs of water to the fountain at the far end.
There are always a few ferns that catch my attention in the Longwood Gardens Conservatory. There is a Fern Passage that is lined with them. Usually I am focused on fiddleheads - those tightly curled beginnings of fronds.
This time I noticed one but was almost immediately more interested in the sporangia on the underside of the fronds. This is where the spores are produced that will become the next generation of ferns. The patterns of the fronds and the sporangia have a precision and symmetry that is quite appealing.
In a short hallway off the fern passage at Longwood Gardens there were planters dense with pitcher plants.
I remember being intensely interested in insectivorous plants when I was in elementary school. They were so different than anything I had ever seen in north Texas where I lived. One year I found some in a catalog and managed to convince my mother to order them for me. I got tiny plants: a Venus Fly Trap and a Pitcher Plant. The Venus Fly Trap did not last very long but the Pitcher Plant endured for about 6 months.
They never got as big as the plants at Longwood and they never flowered. It still is thrilling to see them - and know what they are - in the gardens I visit.
The Orchid House in the Longwood Gardens conservatory is not large but its walls are full of blooms from floor to ceiling. This time I focused on the slipppers. My favorites are the ones that have dainty slipper toes and trailing ties that I image would tie around an ankle. It isn’t clear how the large striped structure at the back fits into the slipper image….but the whole flower is quite appealing on its thin stalk growing from a base of green leaves.
Which are your favorites? I tend to always take pictures of the green and white ones first.
The courtyard of pools that hold the water lilies at Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite places in the gardens. The lilies were full of blooms and bees. I always like to capture the flowers with the most insect activity. The magnification often gives the flowers an unworldly look. Their colors are so vibrant and that is just what our human eyes can see; the insects probably pick up on even more. There are also some lotus pictures mixed in the slide show below. The pink or white flowers with petals that look crumpled are the Victoria Regia water lily; a book from 1854 available on the Internet Archive includes lithographs by William Sharp of this water lily.
I posted several times before about the water lilies at Longwood: November 2011 and August 2012.
The conservatory at Longwood Gardens had a display of spider mums that seemed to glow in the sunlight shining through the glass wall. They start out as tightly furled bundles that look tangled but then uncurl in graceful arcs. Some the small spirals at the end of petals are maintained. These flowers are truly one of the glories of fall.
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.
World’s Largest LED Streetlight Retrofit Completed in Los Angeles - I wonder if the fixtures are also designed to direct light downward rather than in all directions. It would be wonderful to see the stars in the sky again!
Macrophotographs of insects - Don’t let the first picture deter you look at this article! There are some beautiful ones further down in the series….the dogbane beetle with iridescent red, yellow and green on its wings and blues and greens everywhere else…the leafhopper sharpshooter with its red body and white and black wings.
Edible Coatings for Ready-To-Eat Fresh Fruits and Vegetables - An overview of the coatings used to help fruits and vegetables retain freshness. They are edible…but some don’t sound very appealing. As for finding a coating that would work for sliced bananas - one of the appeals of bananas is that they are easy to peel and a good serving size. Their natural packaging is one of the reasons they are so popular!
Researchers’ Tweets Move Science Forward - A study of 116 marine scientists actively using Twitter. Does this translate to other disciplines?
University of Arizona Cooking on Campus (recipes) - There are some good ideas on this list. I tried the Mini Deep Dish Pizzas (made them in a muffin top pan rather than a regular muffin tin) and they were delicious. My daughter made the Quinoa Ratatouille and reported that it was a winner too.
Has the World Reached Peak Chicken? - As we become more health conscious, will be eat even more chicken? We tend to ignore the industrial treatment (or mistreatment) of the birds just as we do other domesticated animals. And what about the trend toward more heavily processed chicken? I always buy cut up parts these days but remember well the draw of chicken nuggets for children. Or will we have more veggie days?
This girl ages into an old woman before your eyes without you noticing - The video is just under 5 minutes and well worth viewing. The ‘old woman’ does not look that old to me. When I think ‘old’ I think of someone in their 90s.
Interlude in Pittsburgh - Lots of pictures from a trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Cathedral of Learning. Brought back great memories of a road trip about 10 years ago when we used the Cathedral (like being at Hogwarts) as a stop before continuing down the highway.
State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees - I’m always a little uncomfortable about these analyses and a particular segment of the population. Are the taxes ‘friendly’ to one group and not to others? For example - do states that are ‘friendly’ to retirees underfund education for children?
How do chameleons and other creatures change colour? - Chamelons and octopuses...some animals have the ability to make very rapid adjustments to their color.
World Happiness Report 2013 - The most recent addition was published this last week. The US is 17th in the world - just behind Mexico. The 6 variables that explain 75% of the variation in the national averages are: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity.
Cannas have associations to people and places for me:
The variety of cannas at Longwood Gardens - both in the Conservatory and outdoors - were good reminders. I’d not seen pink ones before. They were in the later part of their bloom cycle. The orange and yellow cannas were in their prime. I noticed when I looked at my photographs after I got home that I didn’t take any pictures of the red ones!
The Indoor Children’s Garden at Longwood Gardens was empty of children when we arrived earlier than usual last weekend. Every other time we have been in the gardens there have been at least a few children there - and sometimes it was pretty crowded. My daughter enjoyed the precursor to this enlarged garden when she was young. She delighted in the child height fountains where she could put her hands in the water. When the garden was renovated several years ago, even more water features were added and there is a visual richness beyond lush plantings that includes sculpture, mosaic, and stained glass.
The garden light is dappled - leaning toward the shady side. The stained glass lends color and tall plantings of bamboo create walls of green or round vertical elements extending from low growing plants.
Birds and lizards are the dominate themes for the fountains: peacock, hummingbird, ibis, robin, and newt are included in this post. Some are at a height for a toddler…others are about right for a child of 4 or 5. One fountain had some water toys. The best times to enjoy this garden with a child would be on a warm day….and it would be a good idea to bring a towel for when they are ready to trek onward to another garden.
We had a beautiful day last weekend to make a day trip to Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania. I’ll be making thematic posts in the next week or so - but am showing the ‘best of the rest’ today.
We arrived within about 30 minutes of the garden opening and immediately headed for the conservatory since tripods are allowed during those first hours and my husband had some particular photographic experiments in mind. We wandered through the Indoor Children’s Garden (one of the upcoming thematic posts) before there were any children enjoying it.
The large conservatory rooms and exhibition hall were lush with green and every color of flower imaginable. After briefly going outside to the water lily display (another upcoming thematic post) we passed through the Mediterranean Garden and then, after a lot of picture taking in the orchid house (another upcoming thematic post) all the way to the cascade garden on the other end of the complex from the Children’s Garden before taking a short rest on an outdoor bench to look at the map to decide what else we wanted to see in the conservatory; the answer was the tropical terrace and silver garden. The ‘flower unfolding’ series below of one of the tropical plants from the tropical terrace.
Chimes TowerAnd then it was out into the rest of the garden - full of colors and textures. The fountains were lively (upcoming thematic post); my favorite is always the Italian Water Garden. The Meadow is closed to renovation and expansion until next summer but there is a wonderful border of wild flowers along the fence. The Chimes Tower rose from lush vegetation covered with ivy. There was a model train in one of the gardens and ripe vegetables in the demonstration garden. I’ve picked some of the best images for the slide show below.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from 2023:
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