Tag: Sunken Garden

Water Lilies

Nymphaeaceae is the scientific name for the water lily family. Water lilies are lovely as they float leisurely on the water and look beautiful. 

White flowering water lilies are common, so I was delightfully surprised to see many different colors of lilies at the Olbrich Botanical Garden in Madison Wisconsin, where we took a weekend road trip. They were impressive.

According to Wikipedia: “Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water with leaves and flowers floating on or rising from the surface.”  It was interesting to learn that the water lily family forms five genera (groups) with about 70 known species. 

Several different types of water lilies can be found floating in the Sunken Garden in Olbrich Gardens. The sunken garden is a formal, traditional, English-style garden with an 80-foot reflecting pool, and small “water falls” over a cement drop at one end.

The pool is surrounded by mostly by spring bulbs, annuals and perennials with a view of Lake Monona in the distance.  

A few more water lilies were growing in the pools surrounding the Royal Thai Pavilion in the Thai garden section of Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

My favorite color…a stunning blue and yellow flower.
The Royal Thai Pavilion in the Thai Garden.

Seeing all the different colors was a fun discovery…The water lilies added a lot of “splash of color” to the water pools. 

They show off their beauty in a gentle and quiet way.

There was much to see in the lush gardens at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison. The winding paths, little quiet spaces to sit, wonderful variety of flower gardens (17, plus an indoor conservatory), and large trees that provide a canopy of shade over some trails, a Prairie-Style viewing tower to climb for an overlook, and so oh, much more….

If I lived closer I’d visit there often…

Como Zoo

It had been awhile since I visited the Como Park Zoo. I don’t remember the last time. We took our boys there when they were young, and I remember we had a winter picnic there one year. I have been back to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory since then, but the date escapes me.

Growing up in NE Minneapolis, going to the Como Zoo was a popular place for field trips at my elementary school.  I remember the cages were too small for the animals. Thankfully, they have changed that. I also remember a very large, and very old, tortoise roaming the grounds. According to Como Zoo history posted online, Toby, a Galapagos tortoise, came to live at Como Zoo in 1958. Small children were allowed to ride on Toby’s back. Toby is the tortoise I remember. In 1974 Toby was moved to the Honolulu Zoo, where he still lives today!

Monkey’s are always fun to see at the zoo.
Two other cute “monkeys” – Ezra and Zoey

Last week, before Christmas, we took our grandchildren to visit the Como Zoo. It is a nice size, not too big, and it is free. We went to see the monkeys first – a request from our granddaughter. We continued to walk around looking at the other animals including reindeer…how appropriate to see reindeer this time of year. It is fun to see the animals through the eyes of a child…

The beautiful poinsettia display in the conservatory.

We took time at the end of our visit to go into the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. I particularly wanted to see the sunken garden room which was decked out with red poinsettias, white paper whites, and purple lavender…it was warm, smelled good, and was beautiful to look at.

Lovely to see fresh flowers in the sunken garden.

We all enjoyed wandering through the warm displays of plants in the conservatory. It is a special place, especially this time of year when the weather outside is frightful…

A path inside the conservatory.

I’m thankful for St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department who maintains the Como Zoo …I will not wait so long to visit it again.

Orchids…always colorful… always spark joy.