Mar 9, 2010

065- San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

Thursday found us in San Francisco for the day; one of those happy places in my heart. Whenever we went to my grandparents in Oakland we would usually go site-seeing San Francisco: Fleishhacker Zoo, Fairy Land, Lombardy Street, and Golden Gate Park.

Golden Gate Park was one of Sarah’s chosen destinations. Our first stop was the Conservatory of Flowers. What an amazing place!

065- SF conservatory of flowers

There were four separate rooms; each with their own ecosystem but constant throughout was the orchids. The fifth room was a little gift shop.

065- orchid

One of the first things I notice was that *they* had all these funky, florescent colored lights shining on the plants. What? That was odd. Ah, then I saw that it was the sunlight coming in through the stained glass... beautiful.

065- stained glass

In the main or entry room (the domed center room) they had misters running that were guaranteed to frizz or flatten anyone's hair speedy-quick. I found this little collection of misted water on a ginormous leaf.

065- lone drop

And hiding in a mossy corner was this-

065- granolithic

The next room we entered was to the left and was heavy with the heady scent of citrus blossoms.

065- citrus blossom

After a few minutes it became almost over powering! And look who I found in there! My family! (niece Sarah and sister Ann)

065- Sarah & Ann

I found Cindy in a quiet corner contemplating the beauty... just so Cindy-like.

065- my cindy

In the other wing there were two rooms of very diverse temperatures: one quite cool and the other steamy and jungle like.

I was surprised to find that the adaptable orchid likes the cool quite well.

065- tiny orchid

065- spotted orchid

When I went from the cool room to the steamy room it took several minutes for my camera lens to unfog!

065- pond

And what do we find in the jungle? Scary things, let me tell you... carnivorous plants (fortunately none of the same variety as Little Shop of Horrors!) The signs explain that they have adapted so well to this carnivorous life-style that they don't like fertilizer and get their nutrients from digesting little bugs.

065- carnivorous plant

So after only twelve photos I will stop with this particular tour! I could do an entire post on just the orchids.

1 comment:

Sarah E Boucher said...

Wow! That picture you got of me and mom is amazing! Still need some practice to knock out photos like you do. They are truly amazing!!!