Spring Plants in Bloom

Perennials big and small: From the large rubbery leaves of Bergenia cordifolia to the delicate blooms of Gentiana verna, there are many perennials to appreciate in our northern climate right now.

I grew these Bergenia from seed. They are now about three years old and this is their first really nice blooming season. This perennial flower is very hardy and evergreen, keeping its leaves under the snow. If you have a space for one, you should get one. Or get lots of them!

Pink creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) combines well with the blue grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) in the sloped rock garden.

A gardener friend gave me this little spring gentian (Gentiana verna) last year. It fits in well among my sloped rock bed full of short perennials. The flowers are starting to get a bit past their prime in this picture. It's a pity I didn't get a picture a few days ago.

The blooms close at night and open in morning sun. It is planted in full sun and is supposedly hardy to zone 4, but our good snowcover probably makes it tolerate our -45 degrees C winter temperatures. This is an absolutely beautiful rock garden plant. I'd like to multiply this plant, but I'm not sure on the best method -- seed, division, cuttings? I'll try to collect seeds when they ripen as a first option.

These may not look anything like the lush ones we saw in Victoria, but this rockcress (Aubrieta deltoidea) is currently in bloom.

Yellow Trumpet Daffodils:

Containers for Smells and Tastes

I went in a new direction for my deck containers this year. Usually, I plant them up with colorful annuals for a bright show at the front of the house. This year, I planted mainly herbs, tomatoes, strawberries, and scented geraniums.

This pot contains a tasty collection of dwarf globe basil and Red Robin cherry tomatoes. I planted another larger pot with indeterminate (very tall) golden cherry tomatoes, purple basil, lemon basil, and thyme.

I am partial to these Vietnamese blue glazed pots. I recall that resident lawnmower man spotted this one at the Ten Thousand Villages store. I planted "Nutmeg" and "Apples and Cinnamon" scented geraniums (technically they are Pelargoniums) in this pot, hoping to get a sniff when walking up the front sidewalk. I can't honestly say that the nutmeg geranium smells too much like nutmeg, but the apples and cinnamon is not too far off.


The sloped flower bed is looking nice with creeping phlox (pink) in bloom. Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) is a great evergreen mat-forming perennial that is easily divided. I started with one plant in the yard 4 years ago and divided it into at least 12 plants. I don't find it invasive and it's not unattractive when not in bloom.


Did you catch that pile of sod stacked up in the left side of the previous picture? RLM has been working on the most recent yard projects. We're removing more lawn, which is a pleasing thing in itself. About 5 feet of lawn next to the house will be replaced by stones and gravel, since that lawn gets cooked by heat reflecting from the house and it looks terrible most of the time. In the middle of the lawn, I want a rocky outcrop to make an alpine/rock garden. It will start as soon as we haul in some blast rock and maybe get some machinery to move around some huge stones. Isn't that so exciting?

A rope outlines the perimeter of my rock/alpine garden:


Here we have a Mentha "Julia's Sweet Citrus" and a lemon scented geranium. I bought the mint and geraniums as a mail order from Richter's Herbs. I'm quite excited about these plants and plan to add mint to fresh summer dishes and drinks. The Victorians were fanatical about collecting scented geraniums, so we'll see if this summer of smelly plants gets me hooked. I'll definitely take cuttings of my favourites and keep them for next year.


Aside from the containers, here's my very small raised bed vegetable and herb garden. I am growing all of four broccoli plants, which were started indoors and are now planted out. I've never grown broccoli before in my life, so it's just another novelty in my little garden, just like the purple carrots that are sprouting so nicely now.

I know the rest of the North American gardeners are probably harvesting their first peas and greens, but with our long bright days, we'll catch up soon. At least our dandelions are thriving!

Blasted Fiber Grow Pots: I Hate Them

Here is a gardening mistake I wish I never made. I replaced my strips of biodegradable peat pots with biodegradable fiber pots, presumably made of coconut coir (though they don't say on the label). These are made by the company "Planters' Pride" with an address in Brampton, Ontario. Hopefully the Americans have not been similarly aggravated by this product.

The packages are labelled with things like "Reduced Mould Growth" and "Environmentally Friendly" and the website address for "www.saveourpeatbogs.com". What they didn't mention was that you need the jaws of life to separate these little plants cells from each other.

I suppose you wouldn't have to separate them if you intended to plant the 10 cells as a single unit, with your plants in a silly bunch. Rather, I believe the idea was to separate the cells and then plant the fiber pots containing the plants. While the old peat pots did get a bit mouldy sometimes, at least you could easily separate them easily with your fingers. I dulled a pair of scissors trying to gnaw through these stupid fiber pots. Besides, some bedding plants might not have enough strength to put roots through these excessively sturdy pots. After a while, I just ripped the poor plants out of these fiber pots and put them in plastic pots. So there!

Flowers in a Very Slow Spring

Several locals have been talking about this spring being an especially late one. I'm not sure where this trend extends to; perhaps Montana, Alberta, and Winnipeg are all feeling this late spring chill along with us in Saskatchewan. The trees here are now breaking bud...finally. There is probably another frost tonight, but I'm going to be bold and plant out some annuals tomorrow. The weather looks good for the next week.

Below: Raised bed filled with perennials and a few shrubs. The white mounds are Arabis caucasica, an easily divided perennial. I like the look of these so much that I plan to divide and spread it around. Unfortunately, Arabis blepharophylla "Spring Charm" has not appeared this spring and I fear it has departed from my yard.

Here is the least-appealing corner of the yard. Today, my mother (who is visiting) and I tore out the rambling wild raspberry canes and quack grass. I preserved the patch of pink-flowering yarrow, which is invasive enough to command control over this lawless bit of earth. I also threw in a bunch of flowers seeds that I'd probably never otherwise use, including annual poppies, alyssum, and candytuft. I'm hoping they grow quickly to disguise the remaining ugliness.

Intriguing bloom of Frittilary meleagris, a very hardy bulb I grew this season for the first time.

Frittilary meleagris (white and purple blooms) amid Scilla siberica (blue). On the right is a Primula auricula division from a friend's garden. I have tried many times to start P. auricula from seed with no success, so I'm glad to get this one.

Hosta foliage poking out of the soil.

The first primula blooms of the season:

Narcissus hybrid "Full House" has been in full bloom for a week and it already has inspired me to plant some more daffodils next year. The daffodils seem to bloom a few weeks earlier than the large tulips.

Lake Ice and Aruncus Dioicus

We had to wonder what the tourists at the campground were thinking this past weekend. It was the May long weekend and the first weekend the provincial campgrounds are open. As usual, folks with boats on trailers drove past our house on the way to the provincial campground (Nut Point). This year, the lake has been slow to thaw and the boats would not be going far without an icebreaker! Sorry, folks.

Here are some pictures of the lake this evening, near the RCMP detachment. The tree buds have not opened yet and the trees are still very bare.



View over the Legion building, towards Lac La Ronge:

Picture of Aruncus dioicus, a large bushy perennial also called Goat's beard. I like the red stems and how they contrast with the green foliage of my other perennials in the spring. The plant turns green later and produces fluffy clusters of white flowers that look a bit like an astilbe (though blooms are sadly short-lived). These plants like to stay moist, though mine live in average soil with afternoon shade and they do well.

Spring Bulbs and Colorful Pasque Flowers

The weather has been warm for the last few days, coaxing the spring blooms open (finally). I have more blooms to admire today, and I notice that the daffodils may bloom soon as well! I will be disappointed if there are no big blooms in my yard when we have visitors a week from now.
Purple Pulsatilla vulgaris:

Here are three shades of pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) in my yard. These plants form nice-sized plants in about three years. The flowers make a big show before much foliage has grown. I'd like to grow some more of the dark pink/red ones, but you have to plant the seed fairly quickly after maturity because the seed is "ephemeral", as seed sellers put it (it doesn't last long). I should try using my own fresh seeds. I'd also like to add a yellow one to my collection some day.

I just planted the new white-flowered Pulsatilla last fall.

Grape hyacinths have just started to bloom in the last two days:

Tulipa turkestanica, another botanical tulip. These started to bloom today.

Pulmonaria saccharata "Mrs. Moon" does well under the partial shade of tree branches. It has delicate blue and pink flowers in spring. This one must have self-seeded, because I found about 6 little plants around the large one. I read that other growers complain of powdery mildew with this plant, but I haven't had those problems here.

Pulmonaria blooms:

More La Ronge Welcome Signs

I had so much fun re-making our town's abandoned welcome sign a few days ago, that I decided to make more digital landscapes. Check out my new La Ronge welcome sign with surrounding theme gardens:
Original sign and existing landscaping:

"Rustic Perennial" garden (click on any picture to see detail):

"Urban Chic" garden:

"If La Ronge were a suburb of Victoria, BC" garden:

Blooming Bulbs for Mid-May

Our flowers are at least a week behind, but here are some photos of what we do have, for the record. My scilla are in full bloom in this partly-shaded location next to a cedar shrub (which I hate because of the large dead spot on the opposite side).

The sloped rock garden gets earlier blooms because of good sun exposure. Botanical tulips, Chionodoxa and Pulsatilla vulgaris are in full bloom. Blue grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) are just starting to bloom.

Botanical tulip Tulipa humilis Violacea from above:

Aerial View of Northern SK

Here's a change from the usual terrestrial photos on my blog. I took my camera along with me on my "drive to work" on Tuesday, May 13. I flew to Southend, a community 220 km north of La Ronge. There's still snow on the ground there, but the edges of the lakes are thawing.
Lakes just north of La Ronge:

Southend is know for dog sled sprint racing, though I heard on this trip that there are some serious issues of animal neglect currently in the community. This is not an uncommon issue in northern Canadian reserves, where it is not uncommon to have "dog shooting days" to deal with packs of stray dogs.

I also heard about the local spring clean-up. At first, I was excited to hear that there was concern for the aesthetic appeal of yards, until I heard that this entails setting fire to the brush in a yard and letting it burn (while moving the propane tanks out of the general area). Perhaps this is why the fire control people put out another bulletin about the multitude of human-caused wildfires every spring.
The ice road, south of Southend:

Pilots expertly landing the plane on the dirt airstrip in Southend. It is apparently one of the shortest airstrips in the world, with a drop-off into the lake on the far end of the airstrip.

Community of Southend, Saskatchewan:

Scilla sibirica and Species Tulips

Spring is definitely slow this year, with these bulbs blooming a few weeks late. However, the weather is warming and the lake is finally thawing. Unbelievably, some foolish soul on a snowmobile actually crossed the lake on May 10. If you go fast enough, you can cross areas of open water for brief distances. Sounds stupid to me.

Scilla siberica is a spring bulb that grows these petite plants with beautiful deep blue blooms. Like many members of the lily family, the plant is poisonous. Scilla contain cardiac glycosides, particularly scilla-dienolides, which act like digitalis to slow the heart rate.

I really like these pink species/botanical tulips which I bought in BC last year. These are Tulipa humulis and they seem to be the brightest and showiest of the species tulips in my yard. I grow them in my sloped rock garden.

Dimorphotheca "African Sun" blooming like mad in a sunny window. These poor plants need to be outside soon. They're quickly outgrowing their pots.

Welcome Sign and Guerilla Gardening

Welcome to La Ronge, in the future sometime, perhaps. I'm not alone in wondering when our town's welcome sign will be finished.

The sign itself is quite attractive, having been put up last year. It seems that a local committee was given the task of landscaping around the sign, starting last summer. However, the landscaping seems to have come to a standstill. I notice some fresh-looking wood-chip mulch sitting to one side of the sign, which makes me hopeful. What is the plan with the rows of rocks, though?

With only a few minutes and a good computer program, I can transform this welcome sign into something that represents the effects of global warming on the Canadian subarctic...click on the picture to see the high-resolution larger picture. Do you like the bougainvillea, banana tree and bromeliads?

In an attempt to add some greenery to the dusty mess at the side of the highway, I threw some poppy seeds on the heap of garbage and dirt left at a snow dump site.

Good luck, little seeds. If just a few of these seeds grow to flowering plants, they might have a hope of naturalizing, as poppies self-seed. This was my act of "guerilla gardening" for the year. RLM thinks I am crazy. To read more about this social trend, there is a UK website that documents guerilla gardening moments and "weapons of mass beautification".

Basement Garden Growing Obsession

My basement light garden as "gone hog wild", as a garden friend has put it. Truly, my grow-op overfloweth. I decided to actually take stock of what I'm growing down there, noting that the much anticipated world food shortage hasn't had too much impact on the ratio of vegetables to flowers. I do point out to resident-lawnmower-man that several of the flowers are edible, however. With great insight, he pointed out that perhaps we wouldn't last long eating just edible flowers. Hmmm. That RLM is quite a wise man.

Here's what's growing in my basement (and on a table in my bedroom):

Vegetable and herbs:

• Rosemary
• Italian Flatleaf Parsley
• Thyme
• Lemon basil
• Spicy globe basil (I really like this one. It's compact and easy to grow indoors.)
  
• Purple ruffles basil
• Cilantro
• Cherry tomato - Sweet Gold and Red Robin
• Italian Sweet Pepper
• Hybrid Broccoli Captain
• Strawberry Pikan
  

Perennials:

• Primula denticulata
• Primula saxatilis

• Euphorbia myrsinites
• Euphoriba variegata - I hope planting this isn't a mistake? Anyone have some comments?
• Arabis Spring charm
• Silene saxifraga
• Aquilegia flabellata nana
• Pansy light strawberry sundae
• Scabiosa japonica pink diamond
• Papaver miyabeanum Pacino
  

Annuals:

• Helitrope Dwarf Marine
• Osteospermum Passion Mix
• Dimorphotheca African Sun
• Impatiens Super Elfin Mix

• Nasturtium Alaska Majus
• Nemophila Baby Blue Eyes
• Lavatera Silver Cup
• Nierembergia Purple Robe
• Lobelia white cascade
• Cleome violet queen
• Helichrysum Summer Solstice
• Marigold Doubloon
• Salvia farinacea Blue bedder
• Portulaca Sundial mix
• Phacelia Tropical surf
• Godetia amoena tall single mix
• Milady aster (C. chinensis)

So is there a theme to my plantings? Not really. I am growing all sort of things, learning from what I grow, and always being prepared for a landscaping emergency. That's what happens when there's an unsightly gap in one's flowerbed. Horrors.

Worms, Glorious Worms

I am a proud mother to two thriving boxes of worms. Vermicomposting worms, that is. I think it's been a while since my last worm compost blog post, but I'm happy to say the worms are still doing well.

Remnants of vegetables from days past make gourmet food for worms:

I even know that they're happy. I know this because the worms are no longer clinging to the lid and dashing out of the box (as fast as a worm can dash) when I remove the lid. There were a few grim months in winter when I had to push them back into the box, telling them about the slow painful death they would face on the concrete floor of the garage.

Several generations of worms can be seen in every handful:


Here is one of the two blue compost boxes (outer container collects the liquid that drains out the bottom) and the green kitchen bin we use to transport compostable stuff to the compost box.

Remarkably, nearly our whole winter's bounty of kitchen waste went into my two worm bins. They are pretty full now, so soon I will spread some compost on the flower beds. I really wish those stickers on fruit and vegetables were compostable though, since those darn things never break down in the compost bin. Ideally, we could have ORGANIC compostable fruit stickers. I hope there's a university agriculture/chemistry department somewhere working on this.

Spring Clean-up and my First Alliums

My garden resembled a musty old attic until I cleaned up the rest of the plant debris in the raised beds today. I hacked and pulled at the Lamb's ears agressively, and after I was done, it looked like a woolly animal had been sheared in my rock garden. I once read that grey-colored plants have a tendency to steadily creep into new horizons, and that seems to be true for my Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in Summer) and Stachys byzantina (Lamb's ears).

Sloped flower bed -- notice there's not many flowers yet (we're not in Victoria anymore!)

The center of a large cluster of Lamb's ears always dies out, so it's good to just go crazy and pull pieces out of it like mad. Mine always ends up looking great in summer despite the springtime assault. I have three big bunches in the sloped flower bed (above).

The center raised bed has a few tulips, alliums, and other perennials just beginning to show.

I am quite excited about this Allium "Gladiator", which I thought was a bit of a gamble when I planted it in the fall. It is recommended for zones 4-8, which is a stretch for our zone 1b location.

A favourable microclimate in our yard (a bit elevated, next to a lake) may allow this plant to grow here, as most perennials in our yard are for zone 3 and they all do well. I hope the alliums bloom, because these bulbs were a bit expensive (though not so much as to stop me from buying more next fall).

Today was nice and sunny, distracting us from the fact that you could still go ice-fishing in the lake. Ha! These Pulsatilla vulgaris look cozy, with blooms wrapped in little hairy sweaters.

Chionodoxa forbesii

Chionodoxa forbesii, commonly known as Glory-of-the-Snow, is a delicate flower that blooms from bulbs planted in the fall. Because the individual plants are so small, I plant groups of about 12 bulbs fairly close together. Multiple clumps of them produce a nice effect. I think the bright white centers of these flowers make them look like they are sparkling. These plants started blooming around May 1 in sunny areas. There are a few varieties of this plant, including white and pink blooms, but I just have the common blue one and I think it's quite nice. Behind the Chionodoxa is a closed bloom of a red Pulsatilla vulgaris, which has spent nearly the last week clenched up, seeming to protest the persistently cold weather.

Unfortunately, the rest of the yard still looks rather unpleasant, brown, and dusty. Therefore, I won't be showing you any photos of the rest my garden!

Trash Bins of Butchart Gardens

In addition to my last two posts on the beautiful gardens of Victoria, British Columbia, I bring to you this important photo-essay on an artfully-managed detail of Butchart gardens.

Yes, I am writing about the trash bins (often found twinned with a recycle bin).

A Fritillaria, pansies, and ornamental grasses adorn this trash bin:

They were not unsightly boxes requiring shrubbery to hide them, nor were they made of ugly materials or painted in standard garbage-can colors. They essentially were stained solid wood planters that just happened to also be receptacles for refuse and recyclables.
Some red-leafed Heuchera add color to this trash bin:

Resident-lawnmower-man thought it strange that I should spend so much time admiring the trash bins, but I thought these were brilliant elements of the garden. Even the trash bin in the Japanese garden had its own unique flair, with muted colors, white pebbles up top, and a bamboo-texture in place of the solid wood frame of the other bins.

I wonder how often they change the flower displays on these garbage cans?

Yes, I took picture of the garbage cans, but if this inspires just one person to beautify their surroundings, I will be happy.
A garbage can display designed for shade:

Decorative element rather than eyesore:

Sometimes thinking of our little town can make me pull my hair out. Surely, people have enough time and energy to keep the place clean and make it a little nicer. I feel like our tax dollars haven't brought much beauty to this place, and I'm not asking for vast gardens of tulips or rows of rhododendrons. I am glad that Patterson park keeps our downtown area green, however. There is a lot of natural beauty here, but especially in this grungy, mud-on-our-cars time of year, I feel like a single one of these Butchart garbage bins exudes more evidence of effort to beautify a location than our entire town can muster. Perhaps we can do better than pick up the empty beer cans and other litter.

Gardener Goes Travelling: Hatley Park Gardens

I realized that I could not fit everything about the gardens of Victoria in just one post, so here are my pictures from two more gardens:

Hatley Park Gardens: This is an excellent garden for gardeners. It is much smaller than Butchart gardens, but the Japanese gardens here are more impressive in my opinion. The Japanese garden is the best I have ever seen, with mature trees around a lovely pond. The blossoming cherries cascading over the pond, graceful arching bridges, and trickling streams are perfectly placed. Of course, there was also no line-up of people waiting to get in here, and the setting seems much more intimate.

There is a bog garden adjacent to a pond with a nice little collection of primulas.

The gardeners are friendly, and they like to talk too. It was too early in the season to see any roses, which are individually labeled for the benefit of those interested. These gardens over the ocean also boast windmill palms, banana trees, and a nice little formal Italian garden with statuary that looks appropriately weathered and worthy of the stately surroundings.

The Italian garden:

Formerly the Royal Roads Military College (which closed in 1995), this building is now open to tours. The campus has now become a university, offering various courses.

Front entrance to the building, for which a separate entrance fee is charged. We only toured the gardens.

Government House Gardens: Free and open "sunrise to sunset", these gardens surround the house of the Lieutenant Governor of BC. We came upon these gardens incidentally, while driving through the elegant Rocklands residential area.

There were formal rose gardens, perennial borders, an herb garden, wonderful terrace/rock gardens, and some water features where mallard ducks lolled around.
Driveway into the Government House property:

Lawn and perennial borders:

Crimson-colored primulas, pink hellebores (top left) and some other perennials:

The terrace gardens, tucked into a rocky slope behind the buildings, were the most impressive. They featured a wide variety of spring bulbs, succulents, and perennials picked for color and texture contrasts. RLM was instructed to recreate elements of this garden for our yard at home; photos were taken to aid in this project.

A variety of heathers form fluffy pillows at the bottom of this slope:

The terrace gardens:

Back of house, overlooking the terrace gardens:

A lovely Lewisia, tucked into the rocks (this plant is also hardy to La Ronge, for those locals who want to try it).

A Camassia of some variety:

There were volunteer gardeners all over the property, mostly retired folk who seemed to love the communal enjoyment of gardening. Some of these people live in condos and get their gardening needs fulfilled by this garden, while others are obsessed gardeners who just can't get enough at home.
Mallard duck with Bellis (English daisies) in the foreground:

Herb garden full of sage, thyme, and lavender:

Botanical tulips (also hardy in La Ronge):

In short, Butchart gardens are impressive and a must see for everyone. Hatley Park gardens and Government House gardens will thrill anyone who feels fondly for plants and thinks of the smell of well-rotted compost like sweet perfume.

As a result of this trip, I went online and ordered more forget-me-not seeds and decided to grow a passionfruit vine. The forget-me-nots look absolutely wonderful growing amid tulips and other taller spring flowers and I know that other gardeners are successful at growing them here. Good luck to RLM as he attempts to recreate all the rock garden beauty we saw over there!

Gardener Goes Travelling: Butchart Gardens

We spent the last week on a shopping-and-garden-tour-holiday to Victoria, British Columbia. Well, the holiday wasn't exactly proposed to resident-lawnmower-man in quite those terms, but we did throw in a few art galleries and hiking to round out the experience. The destination and timing of the trip was inspired by an unknown traveler who posted their vacation photos a few years back, leading me to believe that this was a great time of year to see tulips in Victoria. The weather was cool all last week (in fact, I think northern SK was warmer), but the flowers were spectacular.
The Empress Hotel, situated on Victoria's inner harbour. No, we didn't stay here, but our hotel was nice and located nearby.

Victoria is definitely the most beautiful Canadian city I have ever visited (and I hope to visit Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax sometime in the future). I was impressed to see that eco-friendly, green living has taken firm root here. Many lawns are dotted with dandelions and little white and purple flowers, which do not detract from the overall appearance. As usual, the city's public landscaping is breathtaking and I stopped frequently to admire the tulips along the sidewalks near the harbour: "Gasp! Oh wow, look at those burgundy tulips!"

The gardens we visited:

(1) Butchart Gardens, (2) Butterfly Gardens, (3) Hatley Park Gardens, at the former Royal Roads military college in Esquimalt, (4) Government House Gardens

Butchart Gardens: These gardens are a a truly impressive display of floral colors draped over impressive terrain, with sunken gardens in a former limestone quarry pit being just one feature. However, they are less interesting for the botanically-inclined, as they feature large numbers of similar plants rather than collections of interesting specimens. Any non-gardener would be impressed with these gardens though, in the same way I'd be impressed with a 5-tier ornate wedding cake with fancy icing. We got there early, avoiding the traffic congestion at the entry gates that resembled the US-Canada border crossing. At $25, this is the most expensive garden, but it really is the Disney world of gardens. Unfortunately, the large gift store is largely geared towards tourists, not gardeners. Click on any of the pictures to see a larger image.

View from the entrance to the sunken gardens, built in a former limestone quarry:

Moving fountain, with mechanized dancing sprayers:

Spring flowers on "the mound", a rocky outcrop in the center of the sunken garden:

Thousands of tulips were in bloom on our visit, (April 26th, 2008):

Drumstick primulas and daffodils:

View of Brentwood bay, looking over the fence into the Japanese gardens:

A nice combination of peony-flowered tulips and blue forget-me-nots:


Butterfly Gardens: Close to the Butchart gardens, this attraction is mostly about the butterflies. It is a humid conservatory containing a few tropical birds and plants, living harmoniously with 3,000 butterflies. We learned that most of the butterflies come from butterfly farms in Costa Rica and the Phillipines. We got to see a real live vanilla orchid, and smelled its fragrant seed pods. The guide demonstrated some eggs and caterpillars on a potted Passiflora (Passionfruit). Apparently the plant had never bloomed. (I asked if it had bloomed. The guide said she didn't know why it hadn't bloomed. Pity.) Kids would love this place.

An orchid of unknown variety: