Love, Joy and Peas: national arboretum

Showing posts with label national arboretum. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green Orchid Photos and Haiku Poems

Happy St. Patrick's Day and floral Friday! The plaque in the photo above has this Irish blessing:

"May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

The rains fall gently upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand"

This plaque hangs, year round, in our bedroom. I am a wee bit Irish, after all.

I thought green orchids would be perfect for this St. Patrick's day post. The photos were taken at the U.S. National Arboretum in their Bonsai Museum. It's a great place to visit, any time of the year.

Back to St. Patrick's day. While praying and walking today, God gave me these two haiku poems.

St. Patrick's Day Haiku Poem I:

Saint Patrick was real!

He spread the gospel message

and loved our Lord God!

St. Patrick's Day Haiku Poem II:
He used shamrock leaves

to explain the Trinity:

Father, Son, Spirit.

Saint Patrick was a devoted Christian and I'm glad to celebrate his life by wearing green but I think loving God and serving others honor him best.

The photo above is an overview of the green "cymbodium goeringii" orchids in their pretty pot. When I first saw the pot, I thought it was a pot of grass! But when I looked more closely I could see the orchid flowers.

Just in case you wondered what our kittens were doing on St. Patrick's day - they were relaxing. Every time I went to make the bed, a cat was on it. It's late afternoon and I still haven't made the bed, but the day isn't over. But their kittenhood almost is - they will be a year old a week from today!

May God bless you and all you love!

How do you celebrate Saint Patrick's Day?

Related posts:
My Favorite Funny Cat St. Patrick's Post: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/hilarious-happy-st-patricks-day-cat.html
More funny Irish cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/03/funny-st-patricks-day-photos-of-moose.html
Cute cats wearing the green: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/funny-st-patricks-day-cat-photos.html

Note:
This is not a sponsored or paid post. All opinions are my own.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Autumn Asters, Honey Bee and Capitol Columns at US National Arboretum

Happy floral Friday! Asters are one of the joys of autumn. I think this honey bee would agree.

This week at the U.S. National Arboretum the purple autumn asters are in full bloom.

The area by the capitol columns is a great place to view them.

The asters contrast nicely with the autumn foliage of nearby plants.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you this autumn and always!

Related posts:
Autumn bonsai tree foliage: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/10/autumn-bonsai-flowers-and-chrysanthemum.html
2013 Autumn bonsai foliage: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/11/autumn-bonsai-exhibit-at-us-national.html
Fall foliage at USNA: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/11/fall-foliage-at-us-national-arboretum.html

Friday, September 2, 2016

Washington Youth Garden Fun and Unique Features

Happy floral Friday! It's been four years since I featured the Washington Youth Garden on my blog so I thought today would be a great day to share some of its unique and fun features. I love the big hand-painted sign that greets visitors to the garden (and there are some flowers in it - can you find them?). One of the rules in the garden is that you must stay on the paths so please forgive some crooked/odd angle photos. I did the best I could while obeying the rules.

Once you enter the chain link fence area you're greeted by this whimsical sign for the Sensory Garden. I love that they have many mini gardens within the main area. The sensory garden has lots of neat flowers and herbs to experience.

This fun giant bird statue is one of my favorite features of the Washington Youth Garden. They move it around from time to time but today it was near the center of the main garden.

They have some lovely signs explaining gardening basics and events throughout the growing season. The Washington Youth Garden is located within the National Arboretum so I imagine you could contact the Arboretum for dates and times of the events. I did see a flyer once at the visitor's center but rarely see any advertisements for this wonderful garden.

I'm not sure why this program wouldn't let me put text between the two photos above but it wouldn't so I'll just explain both here. The top features the Beekeeping area within the Washington Youth Garden. I didn't enter the area because I didn't want to disturb the bees. I imagine that's an area best explored with a staff member. The staff members I saw were busy watering and weeding so I'll save that adventure for another day.

I love their unique garden bed in a real bed frame and I think it's fun that they painted the frame purple so it stands out more. They have herbs and flowers planted in the bed and it spills over on either side like a generous comforter.

These pretty fuchsia colored flowers are the same kind in the top left corner of the garden bed photo.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoyed my mini photo tour of the Washington Youth Garden! May God bless their staff, the young gardeners and YOU!

Related posts:
2012 Washington Youth Garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/fun-ideas-from-childrens-garden-at-us.html
Bright summer flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/sunrise-zinnia-pink-rose-sunrise-dahlia.html
Mary's amazing garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/05/marys-amazing-garden-retreat.html

Friday, August 12, 2016

Cool Flowers from the U.S. National Arboretum's Asian Collection

Happy floral Friday! This week features flowers from the U.S. National Arboretum's Asian gardens. It's a favorite place of mine to walk in the summer because it's mostly shady.

I'm guessing that these purple flowers are a type of aster. I liked both the open flowers and the unfurling buds. So did the bees and a few moths.

This little pink rose was a pleasant surprise.

These neat daisy like flowers appeared to have hollow petals.

The yellow day lily looked especially striking against the variegated shrub's leaves.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless and keep you!

Related posts:
Secret shady gazebo: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/05/secret-gazebo-photos-haikus-short-poems.html
National Arboretum flowers & bugs: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/national-arboretum-flowers-insects.html
Amazing day lily colletction: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/07/beautiful-day-lilies-and-day-lily-haiku.html

Friday, May 6, 2016

Glistening Raindrops on Pretty Azalea Flowers

Happy floral Friday! This week's post features beautiful azaleas from the National Arboretum's azalea collection. Their wooded azalea walk features the widest range of azalea varieties and colors that I've ever seen. At peak it is truly stunning but it's lovely even when the azaleas aren't blooming.

I took these photos between rain showers and the raindrops were still full and fresh.

Some of the flowers were so soaked they became almost translucent.

These bicolor azaleas are a favorite of mine, although I love them all.

These red azaleas looked especially nice with the mystery purple flowers in the background. If you know what the purple flowers are, please let me know.

Thank you for visiting! If you enjoyed this post, I'd appreciate a Google +1 and if you like the blog in general, a separate +1 for the main blog would be fabulous too. May God bless you!

Related posts:
Azalea walk landscapes: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/azalea-walk-landscape-photos.html
Azalea walk photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/04/amazing-azaleas-wooded-walk-photos.html
Azalea flower close ups: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/04/beautiful-azalea-close-up-photos.html

Friday, October 9, 2015

Early Autumn Flowers & Foliage

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!"

I'm really thankful to have a few more giant dahlias to enjoy before frost hits.

The dahlias are making a nice comeback but other than that not much new is happening in our garden, flower wise. Rather than just share two photos this week, photos three through five in this post were taken at the US National Arboretum to give you some variety.

I love this unusual hydrangea and expect that it will remain pretty as it dries for winter.

One of the more unusual late summer/early autumn flowers is the purple sheen, which is usually covered in bees. Other names for it (from the tag at the Arboretum) include: "Erygium leaveworthii," "Leavensworth's eryngo," and "apiaceae."

We have one more chrysanthemum that hasn't bloomed yet but after that "this week in my Maryland garden" will likely be on hiatus until spring. Unless something exciting and unexpected happens. You never know!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you this autumn and always!

Related posts:
Fancy dahlia with bee: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/neat-flowers-bees-and-sun-effects.html
Fall foliage and capitol columns: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/11/fall-foliage-and-capitol-columns-photos.html
Tree foliage: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/11/fall-foliage-at-us-national-arboretum.html

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Wild Eagles Nest at US National Arboretum

Happy wild Wednesday! As promised in last week's post, here are our wild bald eagle photos from two separate trips to the U.S. National Arboretum where a couple of adult bald eagles have a protected nest. Hikers can't get so close as to disturb the eagles but you can see the nest from certain parts of the azalea gardens that aren't cordoned off as well as from a bit of the road nearby.

My dear husband was kind enough to let me publish his photos here too. I like how much prettier the sky looks in his (this is likely due to a filter). In both of the above photos you can see the wild bald eagle guarding its nest (the eagle is on a branch to the right of the nest).

The bright blue sky is a tip off that these two photos are from a separate day trip. It was really exciting to see the eagle flying overhead as we walked on one of the lower azalea trails.

Because we were in the woods it was hard to get a good shot but the eagle flew over us a few times, presumably circling the area to ensure its nest was safe.

God willing, we'll have more trips and hopefully some better photos to share on future wild Wednesday posts. While seeing wild eagles is more exciting, I do have some better quality photos of captive eagles from the National Zoo if you'd like to see more eagles (just let me know).

Thank you for visiting! May God bless America, our bald eagles and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
Blackwater eagle: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/blackwater-national-wildlife-refuge.html
Eagle festival: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/eagle-festival-photos.html
Osprey photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/07/osprey-photos-and-haiku-poem.html

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Monarch Butterfly on Pretty Chrysanthemum Flowers

Happy wild Wednesday! I love butterflies and the monarchs have always been special to me. It was fun watching this one on a patch of chrysanthemums in the National Arboretum's Asian gardens.

The butterfly only opened its wings fully a few times so I was thrilled to get this image.

It flew from flower to flower.

And even shared space with a colorful moth (near the far right side of the photo).

But didn't seem disturbed by the company of the moth or many bees also enjoying the chrysanthemums and sunshine.

I hope my photos made you smile. Happy autumn! May God bless you and the world's butterflies!

Related posts:
Monarch butterflies on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterflies-on-tithonia.html
Butterflies and dragonfly: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/dragonfly-and-butterflies-on-flowers-at.html
Butterfly garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/wildlife-at-glendening-preserves.html
Butterfly art: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/butterfly-art-by-denise-arvaneh.html

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Dogs and Bees at the U.S. National Arboretum

Happy wild Wednesday! Earlier this month I enjoyed a walk in the U.S. National Arboretum and saw these cute bees and dogs. I hope the photos make you smile.

I wanted to pet this cute little dog and ask its human what breed he was but they walked in the other direction before I got the chance (I used my zoom to get the photo).

This bee was parked on top of two pretty, mostly red, bicolor marigolds.

And this adorable dog was keeping watch while her humans slept. I love how she's got one ear up.

These bees were really fun to photograph so I had to include one more image.

That's all for this week's wild Wednesday feature. Which was your favorite photo from today's post? Do you have a favorite dog or bee memory to share? I'd love to hear it! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Cute skirted dog: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/cherry-blossom-dog.html
Cute bunnies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/cute-yard-bunny-photos-for-wild.html
Bentley the dog: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/pictures-of-bentley-my-new-dog-friend.html