Finding harmony amid fantastic February flowers
Or, come away with me, to a tropical island in the city.
The U.S. Botanic Gardens in Washington, D.C, (inside the conservatory), is:
An oasis of green and bright flora in a world of gray cold winter.
A tropical island in a concrete jungle of macadam and blocky beige Federal buildings.
Warm and moist air to nourish the skin and nasal passages dried out by too much North wind and icy frost.
They say that going out in a woods or tropical forest calms and quiets the spirit—something about the photosynthesis, light mixing with green things giving off oxygen which humans need. (I’m sure all the scientists will help correct that if I’ve way oversimplified it since I’ve always been scientifically fuzzy.) Someone once told me they thought a walk in the woods filled one with “rarefied air.” I like that. So did the botanical gardens.
It was a beautiful respite coming out of a long, hard January (ok, yes, we had just enjoyed a 70 degree day on Wed., which plummeted to 17 degrees F. by Sat.)
Never been? Me neither, in 40+ years of living just two hours away, in dozens of trips to the city for meetings, for touring, for museums. (It’s free, of course.)
Don’t ask me what all the names are of these gorgeous flowers blooming away to their hearts content, (but you can find more pictures and names in this Virtual Tour). We should do a naming contest.
I know there were rare plants, endangered plants, ancient plants, carnivorous plants! Yikes.
And they were just what I was needing. And you probably have something similar in a city near you.
Oldest daughter Michelle, her husband Brian, his mother, Jeannie.
Some better poets/artists than me have said these lovely things of flowers:
“The earth laughs in flowers.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay
“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”
― Georgia O’Keeffe, Georgia O’Keeffe
“I must have flowers, always, and always.”
― Claude Monet
One of my favorite mentions of flowers in the Bible is this:
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6: 28-29.)
Amen.
If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
findingharmonyblog 
So glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading your musings, and the pictures turned out well!
Glad you found it … Brian’s pictures are much better I’m sure but I’m enjoying having a forum other than Facebook to share.
Love it….reminds me of a similiar one I went to in Minneapolis a long time ago.
I thought I wrote a reply and then I guess I forgot to post it but thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it … and I think it is so cool how you are becoming such a flower and plant person–my go to girl for plant advice. I can’t wait to see my redbuds in a few months; they seem to have grown so much last summer and fall. Yay!
I have never been to a botanical garden and this was a treat to see such lovely flowers. It is well below zero here today in Orillia Ontario Canada so this was lovely to see.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. That makes me feel good all over again! Orillia must be up north a ways. I will have to look it up. Thanks for commenting.
The third flower picture down is a “Bird of Paradise”. Can you believe I know this? Saw one of these in South Africa and Nancy Hopkins-Garris identified it then.
Yes, great! That’s one of the few I knew too–saw them in parks etc. in California last time I was there. It was also Sherry Hester’s favorite flower. Nice!