The Botanical Gardens

We went to the Jardin Botanico, the Botanical Garden, yesterday.  It was a beautiful day and we decided we would go in the morning because it was supposed to get to 29 degrees centigrade (84 farenheit). We were glad we did as it was hot and humid by the time we walked the four or five blocks to get there and then walked for an hour and a half.  Then we walked back to get lunch and then went to the store to get the weekly grocieries.  Busy day, but enjoyable.

 

There were several ponds, fountains and lots of statuary.  This lily pond was beautiful. I also liked the black swam fountain even though it wasn't running.

This was a huge Aloe plant.  I usually killed my aloe plants by hacking off pieces for sunburned kids. This one would last forever!

I saw the banana tree, but Sister Casos had to point out the blossom.  Can you find the blossom in the distance shot?

This is a dragon tree.  It grows for 10-15 years and then the trunk stop growing and sends up another shoot with another tree top.  This repeats every 10-15 years.  The sap is blood red (the ants seemed to like it!) It was used in paint to create a red stain for Stradivarius violins. Had to paste 3 pictures together with my panorama program to get the whole thing in!.

This is called aCaraguata Chusa.  It's a succulent plant with a blossom this is bright coral.

This is a Chichita tree.  The limbs grow up and around each other so it looks like it is tying itself in knots.

I had seen a Bird of Paradise flower lots of times, but I had never seen the seed pod to one.  I think that could make a very pretty arrangement too!

This one is pretty too, but I should have done a closeup.  It's called a Papagayo flower. A Papagayo is a kind of brightly colored parrot.

 

There were other pretty flowers that I couldn't find the signs for.

 Some kind of Iris....

 This reminded me of a Fuchia, but I've never seen one this color.

This one seemed very much like a sweet pea, but the fragrance wasn't the same.

 

And the place was also full of cats.  I'll post those pictures tomorrow!