Well, it’s been over a year since I had something to write about and I figured as we slide into Autumn, it was time to go check on the ginkgo trees again to see what color they were!
They were not yellow.
But they were trying!
I love how they look like deep hearts. Something about them gives me a warm feeling inside. I had gone here twice over the past couple of weeks, so these photos were from the first time. Today, they weren’t much different and I was on another mission: take photos of my new-to-me Prelude!
He’s a looker from about 20 feet away, but that’s alright. The one I had in Texas was pretty pristine and that’s how I like ’em. But I’ll take what I can get. These poor cars are going to the crusher every day. They’ve become quite rare to see on the street anymore. He’s a ’95 and needs some work.
Back to the arboretum. It’s named ‘Blandy Experimental Farm’ which sounds like a horror movie title. But it’s pretty tame and I like going on a weekday when there aren’t many people around. It’s a huge place with lots to see, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking. (You can click on the gallery photos to see the full version of them.)
I was drawn to this area with a bunch of exposed rock and found some low lying cactus and other succulents, along with a big burrow – most likely from a groundhog. I was hoping to see a snake or lizard sunning themselves, but nada.
The first trip, I went into the small herb/flower garden to find the biggest bumblebee on some flowers. So big, she just walked to each one instead of flying. I watched her for so long that I caught a smaller bee fly over to her, mount her and god knows what, before flying back off. She didn’t even seem to notice!
Two trees, bursting with fiery orange berries drew me over for a closer look.
There was an interesting area where solitary bees were living out of a manmade structure. They even labeled the holes! The little door showed where some of the pupa were stored, waiting to emerge.
They were growing my favorite apple gourds with notes on them. One said to not take it! I walked more and was surprised to see a lot of banana trees growing, along with fig trees by this little house.
Finally, a loo with a view!
So that’s about it, folks. I’m hoping the weather stays warmish for a while still because you know how much I LOVE winter. Hope everyone is doing well out there. Until next time…