The Birthday Trip: Part 2

For the second part of our mysterious adventure we went to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Conservatory.  It was amazing.

The conservatory was really a hunormous greenhouse with all sorts of tropical and exotic plants in it.  They also had some plants that you could grow in pots or in your backyard... but these were 3-5 times the size!

There were pineapple plants, with precious little tiny baby pineapples growing on them.

There was a "chocolate tree" with absolutely huge cocoa pods on it.

 

And near the back was a tree with ready to pick, larger-than-softball, grapefruit.

Then there was this tree with the very appropriate label of "Sausage Tree".  For there suspended on its thin branches, were these massive sausage shaped clubs.  I have no idea what they were used for.  I wonder if you could eat them!?  :)  All of these, and many, many more, were in the first 2/3rds of the building.  The back section was full of desert plants.  Magnificent desert plants.

There was a Agave plant, with a snake like aspect to it, towering a good 8-10 feet in the air.

One little Cactus had the most tempting little white fuzz down beneath its spines, but if you tried to reach it you would be cruelly poked by the little barbs.

Some of the Cactus reached way up towards the ceiling, exceeding 15 feet at least.

And others were small in stature resting in the rock bed provided for them.

 Some looked rather like something else other then a cactus.  Like this coral reef like plant,

 and this little cactus that had the appropriate name of Bishop's Cap.

 And there was of course the Texan cowboy Cactus. :)

Most of the plants were painful to touch,

And some uniquely beautiful to look at.

After we had our fill of the Cactus gardens we went outside to the herb and perennial gardens.

A beautiful knot garden was at the center of the herbs.

There was also a children's garden, which was very fascinating and I am sure would be more so in the summer.

Some of us were a little large for a few of the structures in the children's garden. ;)

We perused through the "gated gardens" which had a beautiful display of daffodils and grape hyacinth, and was dotted with small fountains and ponds.

In one of the ponds, we found a little baby painted turtle.  He was about the size of a half dollar, and very inquisitive.

We left the gated gardens, and went down one of the many paths that traversed the 200 or more acres that the Matthaei botanical gardens were made of.

We saw some wildlife (mostly of the feathered variety),

and lots of pretty flowers and trees.

The path we took went a total of 2-3 miles, and when we returned we had tea in the gated garden, before one last trip through the Conservatory.

It was a lovely Birthday adventure, and we all would love to visit these places again!

~Chs

The Birthday Trip: Part 1

Last Monday my family took me on a surprise birthday trip.  We began by parking at the top of the Ann Arbor Hospital parking lot :P 

Then picnic basket and coolers in hand, we headed off on our unknown adventure.

The first stop was the Nichols Arboretum.  We had never before heard of this hidden gem in the city, but we were delighted that we finally found it.

Set on 127 or so acres, the Arboretum, is crisscrossed with neatly kept up paths, that still have a lovely wild feel to them.

The rest of the family quickly found the maps, and decided on our route, while I...

found the daffodils, and photographed them.

The first path we took, was lined with Rhododendrons that had yet to blossom, and had a bench on it that was flanked by blooming Azaleas.

There were wildflowers scattered along the wooded paths, and I was so surprised to see Forget-Me-Not in abundance.

There were many large trees along the trail, but this one in particular was humongous.  It took the nearly 14 foot combined wingspan of Josiah and Dad, to encircle it.

One of the reasons that Faith in particular wanted to take me to the Arboretum, was that in 2003 a lady had the idea to plant a 1/2 mile long line of Daffodils.  Altogether 20,000 daffodil bulbs were planted! (look here for more information, and a very interesting video)

Though the daffodils had been trampled down in some parts, and were completely missing in sections, the first part of line, was still en-mass, and very beautiful.

On our way to our picnic spot we came upon a hill, and found, much to our delight, that it was perfect for taking some pretty amusing photos.

Joshua, holding his pocket wife! :)

There were birds everywhere, chirping, and singing, in the spring air.

We were very glad, that both Mr. Reiche, and Josh and Theresa were able to accompany us on our trip. 

We had decided to have our picnic right down by the Huron River which flows through the Arboretum. 

Well right next to the river, and hanging over it was a large tree, and of course, if there is anything climbable, that is where the boys go.  At first Josiah and Josh were posing nicely on the tree hanging directly over the river, then....

they started "horsing-around".  Thankfully Josiah caught his hat before it plunged to the ice depth below. ;)

Then poor Josh got nervous, but his dear little (big) brother comforted Josh and brought him around, so much in fact that...

He started swinging off the tree! :)

 Josiah of course, not to be outdone, also suspended his long legs out over the swiftly running river.

Once they had returned to Terra firma we partook of the luscious picnic lunch, and enjoyed watching the wild life around us, including an adorable little doe across the river who stared curiously at us and wondered what the "crazy humans" were doing now.

Time was growing short, and we still had another destination to visit, so we quickly disposed of the remainders of our repast, and headed spit spot up the ridge.

We walked through the Peony gardens and back passed the sign for the Arboretum.

When we reached the top of the parking garage, we jumped into our vehicles, and took off to the second part of the Birthday trip. Which I will document, in a separate part, because if have dozens of pictures from it, and this post is already alarmingly long! :)

~Chs

The Unusual March

This past March has been most unusual in its weather patterns, and because of that we have been blessed enough to do and see things which we normally would not experience till late April at least, if not May or June.  Following are some photos of some of our favorite late spring/summer things, done in March.

Hanging out the Laundry: We usually don't get to do this till summer, but the days were so warm, and the sun so bright, we decided to do it early, and were rewarded with the wonderful smell of freshly aired clothes in March.

Daffodils:  Most normal years I rarely have daffodils open by my birthday (the 28th of March) but this year some of them were open by the 18th. 

I had planted some different varieties last fall, and was very pleased with them this spring.

They made such cheerful bouquets!

Fruit trees: The Apricot blossomed early, opening it's lacy petals to flutter in the March breeze.

Forsythia:  Our little forsythia bush in the corner of the yard had lovely full blossoms this year, but when I tried to get Sadie Rose to pose with a forsythia in her mouth all she would do was eat the flowers! :)

Birds: Usually the birds come in full force come mid/late March, but this year we were watching Robins pulling worms and hearing Red-wing Blackbirds singing the first few days of the month.

Garden: We even were able to plant some of our lettuce seedlings from the cold frame directly into the garden box.

Peas and beets and radishes were all started in March as well!

We were very thankful for the warm spell in March, that allowed us to do so many "unusual" things, and cannot wait until the real spring comes.

~Chs