Revisiting Wheaton Park and Brookside Gardens

Earlier this month, I decided to walk around Brookside Gardens with a guest from out of town and had a different experience than I anticipated. When we got there the parking at Brookside Gardens was limited by construction and full. There was no parking next door at the Brookside Nature Center either. I remembered a path through the forest from Wheaton Regional Park’s play ground to Brookside Gardens…and found parking near the playground.

I had not been to Wheaton Park for almost 20 years (we went to this park frequently when my daughter was the age to enjoy it) and it had changed dramatically in those years. Gone were the wooden structures that supported slides and swings and climbing walls. All the supporting structures now are brightly painted metal. There is more color in the slides (yellow tubes) and synthetic mulch (blues and greens). The hill has been terraced to reduce the erosion since the heavy use thins the grass. I liked that the park had been renovated….and that it was still a popular place.

There are still animal sculptures just the right size for children. I managed to get this picture when the elephant did not have a rider.

The path was just as I remembered through the woods - asphalt and wide enough for maintenance vehicles. And then we were at Brookside Gardens. The hibiscus will have to be brought in soon but the flowers were enjoying the last of the warm days. Seed pods were showy on some plants. The lily pads did not have flowers but there were buds; would they have time to bloom? The mums were just beginning to open.

Seed Pods

This is the time of year to look for newly formed seed pods.  The hibiscuses growing behind the fence at my parents were covered with pods that were already splitting open to reveal the seeds inside. The flowers were done for the season.

The red yucca had pods in various stages of development with the whole progression of buds to flowers on the same stalk. Are the darker reddish pods more or less mature than the greens ones?

The desert willow has pods that look like beans. The pods look fibrous and sturdy compared to the flowers of the tree (maybe that is true for almost all plants).

Zooming - April 2014

There were so many pictures taken in the last month to look at….to crop for this month’s ‘zooming’ post. I finally chose some favorites: a degraded shell spiral, water droplets on leaves, uncurling leaves, crocus, hyacinths, violets, tulips, daffodils, hibiscus, deciduous magnolia, the profile of a sculpture. Enjoy the views!

Zooming - March 2014

Let’s look at some cropped images taken over the past month. As usual, there is a botanical theme. Can you find:

• Hibiscus buds and flower center
• Bird of paradise petals
• Fiddlehead sculpture
• Cactus thorns
• Paper flower

 

Brookside Conservatory - February 2014

It is so cold outdoors today….I decided to ‘think warm’ by picking my favorite images captured at the Brookside Gardens conservatories a few weeks ago. Conservatories are deliciously warm places to visit in the winter!

On this visit - I did some experimentation with by 8x magnification loupe. All the images in the post include a photo taken with the camera and then one or two images captured with the loupe to add to the magnification.

The fuzz on the petals and imperfections become more obvious.

I’d never seen the variegated croton fruit before. They are almost as colorful as the foliage!

The veins of the hibiscus bud stand out in both magnifications.

Next time, I will make an effort to get magnified views of flower parts!

Just looking at the vibrant colors of these flowers makes me feel warmer!