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jinianOn Memorial Day, at a suggestion from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marzipan_pig (slightly twisted by me), I went to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens.
It was one easy bus ride from the Capitol square on the #7, which runs every half-hour. (Board at State/Mifflin, 15 minutes, leave at Fair Oaks/Atwood. Madison buses have the useful feature of automatic recorded street announcements, but the driver will still call to you in particular if you ask.) I did have to remember the map I'd looked at to determine that I needed to continue straight on the road the bus was turning aside from, but that was easy enough.
First, I went into the conservatory, which asks for a $1 donation. My notes:
Orchids
Cymbidiella rhodochila
Bulbophyllum grandiflorum
B. refractilingue (can't find a photo that looks like the one I saw)
Oncidium flexuosum
Other plants
Fishtail palm, Caryota mitis, had bundles of stems holding grape-sized round fruits from green to red to black, all on the same stem.
The conservatory's carnivorous plant collection was not too impressive compared to the UW greenhouse's (or even the Indoor Sun Shoppe's), but there was an outdoor bog area I saw later that used them nicely.
Medinilla magnifica appeared to have filaments with decorative purple tips that extended beyond the pollen-producing anthers, but apparently I should've been looking for terminal pores on the purple bits. The yellow parts are connective appendages. Interesting.
Parachute plant, Ceropegia sandersonii , has a hood over the corolla tube, which is only some nifty, but it looked like there were a group of anthers on the middle interior of the hood, which means the stamens must be connate or epipetalous. I can't find a good reference right now, though; Wikipedia's article on Ceropegia only mentions the fused corolla and downward-pointing hairs to trap flies.
Tiny, honey-colored ants were creeping on the mild-smelling Passiflora citrina.
There was a fog machine running intermittently under the bridge over the top of the conservatory's waterfall, apparently for extra drama.
(And, because I am a dork, I was amused by Hohenbergia even though it's not actually Hohenheimia.)
A trailing plant in the cactus family that looks like Ephedra: Rhipsalis teres
Aporophyllum 'Edna Belany' had stunning coral-colored flowers larger than the width of my hand, the parts of which looked spirally arranged. That would be unusual among flowers, and it was hard to be sure. The web is not being very fruitful for me right now; possibly no one can be bothered to characterize the exact arrangement of flower parts in which the petals and sepals are mixed together.
A Herrania sp. tree had flowers coming out on top of older flowers near the woody base, and none higher up, making me wonder who the pollinator is. It's in the same family as the always-charming Theobroma cacao, whose little stripy flowers are pollinated by midges. The Herrania petals are sort of a meaty purple-red, and there are stringy parts around them that might conceivably create a slight illusion of fur. There was a lovely heavy sweet smell near it, but that turned out to be a gardenia.
Anthurium 'Fuch's Ruffle' had a huge beautiful leaf with several spadices shorter than the leaf and spathes a little shorter than that.
There was something with red ginger-style flowers with yellow tips and green edges, but it wasn't labeled. Sad!
Oyce, here is the poisonous flower I mentioned to you: Brugmansia, also called DEATH TRUMPET. (Or angel's trumpet, but what fun is that?)
Brunfelsia nitida is in the tomato family -- so probably poisonous as well [yep!] -- and smells like it, but has a flower shape and consistency like jasmine.
Philodendron gloriosum had this amazing silk-painted look to a few yellowing leaves. I'm surprised it was so easy to find a picture of it!
Anthurium 'Watermaliense' is not a misnomer for 'guatemalense' as I thought it might be; apparently it was introduced in a city called Watermall. I noted it for its highly masculine appearance. (Anthurium 'Lady Jane' is, on the other hand, decidedly femme.)
Elatostema sessile is an inoffensive plant with no visible trichomes, but on learning that it's in the nettle family I did not dare to touch it, despite being fairly well satisfied by visual inspection that .
Hibiscus tiliaceus wasn't blooming, but it made a pleasant small tree a bit like a katsura.
I'd never seen the cute little flowers of common office-building plant Maranta bicolor before (pic is M. leuconeura but looked identical).
The taffeta plant, Hoffmannia refulgens, had an amazing sheen on its puckering pine-burgundy-rust-colored leaves. The photo looks blurry, but the plant really is that soft.
I was charmed by the helical habit of the stems of Costus tappenbeckianus. Who needs flowers?
Then the outside:
First, a great brass leaf for kids to play on and under! Make them love the plants, and also get the roistering out of their systems.
Several nice roses: 'Blanc Double de Coubert' is rugosa-fragrant and makes a wee shrub with double-but-only-double white flowers;
Rosa x rugosa 'Yankee Lady' would match my house.
I saw several unfamiliar little bees. So cute! And cardinals, both sexes, and I think I heard a catbird (or something else avian that mews).
Other random prettinesses: Allium christophii
Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'
wonderfully deep-red lupines
white camas, I wrote with a question mark? I think so; I saw several labeled camases later.
Geranium sanguineum 'Album' has nice open generalized white flowers.
Chionanthus virginicus (is that the source of this smell? ah, Oleaceae: yes. great fringed petals.)
There was an impressive royal-style Thai pavilion with a tropical-imitative garden around it, a long, dramatic curving path leading to it, and a very soothing courtyard with gazing pool. Statues of elephants and lions. Water urns signifying hospitality. Signs telling how the Thai artisans were on one of the last planes allowed into Chicago on 9/11/2001, and how they built the pavilion with hope and national outreach and stuff.
The Rose Tower was high enough to catch breezes and had a wide copper edging on the roof with attractive vertical tarnish streaks.
Overall, the garden was very accessible; everything that had a staircase used it only as a shortcut, and the real paths were clearly meant to be the very shallow ramps. It had a formal European feeling to it, ranging to cottage garden and, in one spot, meadow. Most of the gardens I like are either Asian-inspired and strict but flowing, or wild-to-cottage range of style. This, however, was excellent, and I would love to return at other times of year if I ever have the chance.
marzipan_pig (slightly twisted by me), I went to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens. It was one easy bus ride from the Capitol square on the #7, which runs every half-hour. (Board at State/Mifflin, 15 minutes, leave at Fair Oaks/Atwood. Madison buses have the useful feature of automatic recorded street announcements, but the driver will still call to you in particular if you ask.) I did have to remember the map I'd looked at to determine that I needed to continue straight on the road the bus was turning aside from, but that was easy enough.
First, I went into the conservatory, which asks for a $1 donation. My notes:
Orchids
Cymbidiella rhodochila
Bulbophyllum grandiflorum
B. refractilingue (can't find a photo that looks like the one I saw)
Oncidium flexuosum
Other plants
Fishtail palm, Caryota mitis, had bundles of stems holding grape-sized round fruits from green to red to black, all on the same stem.
The conservatory's carnivorous plant collection was not too impressive compared to the UW greenhouse's (or even the Indoor Sun Shoppe's), but there was an outdoor bog area I saw later that used them nicely.
Medinilla magnifica appeared to have filaments with decorative purple tips that extended beyond the pollen-producing anthers, but apparently I should've been looking for terminal pores on the purple bits. The yellow parts are connective appendages. Interesting.
Parachute plant, Ceropegia sandersonii , has a hood over the corolla tube, which is only some nifty, but it looked like there were a group of anthers on the middle interior of the hood, which means the stamens must be connate or epipetalous. I can't find a good reference right now, though; Wikipedia's article on Ceropegia only mentions the fused corolla and downward-pointing hairs to trap flies.
Tiny, honey-colored ants were creeping on the mild-smelling Passiflora citrina.
There was a fog machine running intermittently under the bridge over the top of the conservatory's waterfall, apparently for extra drama.
(And, because I am a dork, I was amused by Hohenbergia even though it's not actually Hohenheimia.)
A trailing plant in the cactus family that looks like Ephedra: Rhipsalis teres
Aporophyllum 'Edna Belany' had stunning coral-colored flowers larger than the width of my hand, the parts of which looked spirally arranged. That would be unusual among flowers, and it was hard to be sure. The web is not being very fruitful for me right now; possibly no one can be bothered to characterize the exact arrangement of flower parts in which the petals and sepals are mixed together.
A Herrania sp. tree had flowers coming out on top of older flowers near the woody base, and none higher up, making me wonder who the pollinator is. It's in the same family as the always-charming Theobroma cacao, whose little stripy flowers are pollinated by midges. The Herrania petals are sort of a meaty purple-red, and there are stringy parts around them that might conceivably create a slight illusion of fur. There was a lovely heavy sweet smell near it, but that turned out to be a gardenia.
Anthurium 'Fuch's Ruffle' had a huge beautiful leaf with several spadices shorter than the leaf and spathes a little shorter than that.
There was something with red ginger-style flowers with yellow tips and green edges, but it wasn't labeled. Sad!
Oyce, here is the poisonous flower I mentioned to you: Brugmansia, also called DEATH TRUMPET. (Or angel's trumpet, but what fun is that?)
Brunfelsia nitida is in the tomato family -- so probably poisonous as well [yep!] -- and smells like it, but has a flower shape and consistency like jasmine.
Philodendron gloriosum had this amazing silk-painted look to a few yellowing leaves. I'm surprised it was so easy to find a picture of it!
Anthurium 'Watermaliense' is not a misnomer for 'guatemalense' as I thought it might be; apparently it was introduced in a city called Watermall. I noted it for its highly masculine appearance. (Anthurium 'Lady Jane' is, on the other hand, decidedly femme.)
Elatostema sessile is an inoffensive plant with no visible trichomes, but on learning that it's in the nettle family I did not dare to touch it, despite being fairly well satisfied by visual inspection that .
Hibiscus tiliaceus wasn't blooming, but it made a pleasant small tree a bit like a katsura.
I'd never seen the cute little flowers of common office-building plant Maranta bicolor before (pic is M. leuconeura but looked identical).
The taffeta plant, Hoffmannia refulgens, had an amazing sheen on its puckering pine-burgundy-rust-colored leaves. The photo looks blurry, but the plant really is that soft.
I was charmed by the helical habit of the stems of Costus tappenbeckianus. Who needs flowers?
Then the outside:
First, a great brass leaf for kids to play on and under! Make them love the plants, and also get the roistering out of their systems.
Several nice roses: 'Blanc Double de Coubert' is rugosa-fragrant and makes a wee shrub with double-but-only-double white flowers;
Rosa x rugosa 'Yankee Lady' would match my house.
I saw several unfamiliar little bees. So cute! And cardinals, both sexes, and I think I heard a catbird (or something else avian that mews).
Other random prettinesses: Allium christophii
Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'
wonderfully deep-red lupines
white camas, I wrote with a question mark? I think so; I saw several labeled camases later.
Geranium sanguineum 'Album' has nice open generalized white flowers.
Chionanthus virginicus (is that the source of this smell? ah, Oleaceae: yes. great fringed petals.)
There was an impressive royal-style Thai pavilion with a tropical-imitative garden around it, a long, dramatic curving path leading to it, and a very soothing courtyard with gazing pool. Statues of elephants and lions. Water urns signifying hospitality. Signs telling how the Thai artisans were on one of the last planes allowed into Chicago on 9/11/2001, and how they built the pavilion with hope and national outreach and stuff.
The Rose Tower was high enough to catch breezes and had a wide copper edging on the roof with attractive vertical tarnish streaks.
Overall, the garden was very accessible; everything that had a staircase used it only as a shortcut, and the real paths were clearly meant to be the very shallow ramps. It had a formal European feeling to it, ranging to cottage garden and, in one spot, meadow. Most of the gardens I like are either Asian-inspired and strict but flowing, or wild-to-cottage range of style. This, however, was excellent, and I would love to return at other times of year if I ever have the chance.
