Monroe County Lamberton Conservatory, Rochester, NY Highland Park

Today I used a vacation day and my daughter and I took a trip to Rochester, NY to Highland Park. There, we visited the Lamberton Conservatory. This was established in 1911 and completely refurbished in 2008. What a wonderful place to spend a chilly, snowy, gray winter day. There were fruit trees blooming - oh my, what a wonderful scent.  I was in heaven!   Enjoy my pictures. I don't know the names of all the plants but I hope you can feel what we felt being there.

This is a small fish pond, also home to a turtle. Do you notice the snowflakes falling outside?

A banana tree, see the wee bananas? They aren't ones we eat.

Cactus room - as we arrived there was a bus load of 2nd graders leaving. I would be very afraid to have them in this room - lots of dangerous looking spikes! There was a large rat tail cactus that I didn't take a picture of, but it was one of the funkiest plants I've seen.

 

 

Put yourselves in our shoes - we climb over a snowbank leaving our car, boots, winter coats, gloves on. We walk into this warm room filled with flowers, color, perfumes. I can see myself living here year round.

I would volunteer to work here in a heartbeat!

This poor  fellow had an infestation of bugs and needed to be trimmed back to get rid of them. Kind of like having lice, huh?

This room with Spanish moss cascading from every tree branch was my favorite.

I love this plant, a Shrimp plant. I've never seen it before. I wonder if anyone ever sneaks little pinches of the plants to take home and root?

Impressive Staghorn fern

More turtles - I hope you enjoyed the tour. We only paid $3 to enjoy this sanctuary. They offer season passes for $10. Believe me - if I lived closer I'd be buying a season pass and spending as much time here as I could - sitting on one of the many benches daydreaming of spring.

Proven Winners $100 giveaway at Dusty Bay

Head on over to Dusty Bay blog to enter a giveaway. $100 spring annuals giveaway. Boy, wouldn't I love $100 worth of annuals to color my gardens with!

A Spring teaser day

Look real close at this picture. Can you see what has me excited?

It's GRASS!!!

 

 

 

 

I haven't seen grass since some time in December!  Yesterday we had a spring teaser day. The temperature rose to a balmy 58 degrees. Wow, can you believe it? Some brave souls dug out their shorts and tees. Winter coats, hats, mittens were tossed aside.  I went for a walk before work. Also something I have not done since sometime in November or December. There was no ice to slip on.  The birds greeted me with their morning song. The air smelled like spring - warm breeze and squishy mud.  It was also filled with a most delightful sound of dripping ice melting off our roofs.
Today is a different story - 50 mph wind gusts mixed with snow flurries and a temperature of 17 degrees. Oh, how cruel Mother Nature can be. Or maybe she was just showing us a preview of what is soon to come. Building our winter weary spirits back up. Saying "Buck up, you know spring is just around the corner. Here's a reminder of what's coming your way." 
It did help all of us who are suffering the winter doldrums. Our spirits rose, our batteries are recharged. We're tough old birds; we have what it takes to get through the last few weeks of winter.
To help me through this cold day, I re-potted an African Violet that had 2 babies and re-potted a purple cyclamen in a pretty pot.  Love getting my hands in that soil!

Central New York Blooms Syracuse Flower and Garden Show

This year's CNY Blooms Flower and Garden Show is being held March 3-6 at the OnCenter Complex in downtown Syracuse, NY. It's a wonderful day spent among flowers, dirt, and the smell of mulch!! Something we all need to get us through the last cold weeks of winter.

These pictures are from their website.

How to create a white garden

I wrote a children's story titled The Moonlight Garden. (As yet, unpublished.) In the story, the reader takes a stroll through a garden bathed in moonlight and sees the different white flowers and how they reflect moonlight. The reader also meets insects and creatures of the night and smells the perfume of evening flowers. Now, if you'd like to know an easy way to create a white garden that reflects the moonlight, watch this video -

giveaways at I Am That Lady

Head on over to I Am That Lady blog to enter some giveaways she has. Drawings are February 12th. This is a great site for anyone interested in saving money with coupons. Some of the content is for central New Yorkers, but there's something for everyone who is interested in saving money.

My winter oasis

My Winter Oasis

Seed catalogs surround me;

Me and my cup of tea.

My cat on my lap,

And maybe a nap.

I close my eyes

And dream of blue skies.

A lilac scented breeze,

Birds singing in the trees.

Flowers in their beds,

Shades of yellow and red.

Sun shining bright,

It’ll be a warm night.

 Alas, I open my eyes

And see the gray skies.

The view from my window

Is nothing but snow.

I’ll make do with artificial light;

My houseplants in sight.

I’ll be content with this,

My winter oasis.

                                    Bonnie

Where is your winter oasis?

Cross Country Skiing at Rice Creek

Another cross country skiing afternoon. The woods are so peaceful in winter, almost too peaceful. It's eerie not hearing any birds sing, I think it was too cold for them to be out.  This skiing adventure was through the trails at the Rice Creek Field Station owned by the State University College at Oswego.

This is my daughter deciding if she can go under this, as someone else had before us, or should she go around.

She decided to go under.  I followed her, can't believe I got down that low. It felt like I was doing the Limbo! I was mainly worried about getting under without getting stuck, she was worried about an animal jumping out at her! There were animal tracks under there, but I didn't point them out to her.

This is the herb garden, looks inviting, huh? When I had summers off, I used to volunteer to help weed this. There was a big, black resident snake. All volunteers had instructions not to harm it.  I know they are good for the garden, but they aren't good for my heart!!!

This is an old stone wall. I love it - I don't know how old it is or who built it but it truly is a work of art. Stone walls like this aren't built anymore.

Part of the trail, it was such a beautiful day.

Rice Creek - bubbling through the quiet woods.