United States Botanic Garden

Eyes from here in Georgia and all over the world will be upon the US Capitol Building for the next few days as history will once again be made on these steps. The Saint and I were there on Dec 26, 2008 and the platforms were already going up for the big day. Can you see the Christmas tree at the bottom of the stairs?

It has been many years since we walked around to the back of the building. The Capitol building is one of many buildings rich with history in Washington.

Beautiful old trees on the grounds make for a spectacular stroll around to the back of the Capitol.

To the right of the Capitol Building sits another building rich with history. Welcome to the United States Botanic Gardens (USBG) in Washington, DC! I guess you could say this is one garden that belongs to each and everyone of us Garden Bloggers living in the United States.

My Visitors guide pamphlet tells me; During the 18th Century George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison shared the dream of having a national botanic garden and were instrumental in establishing one on the National Mall in 1820. The Botanic Garden has been in continuous operation and open to the public since 1850. The USBG is one of the oldest botanic gardens in North America. It informs visitors about the importance and often irreplaceable value of plants to the well being of human kind and to earths fragile ecosystems.

The USBG currently maintains about 12,000 plants for exhibition, study, conservation and exchange with other institutions. Historic specimens include several that date from the original 1842 founding collection. The USBG also serves as a rescue center for plants confiscated at the U.S. borders in cooperation with CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Globally, about one out of every 8 known plants species is threatened or nearing extinction. In the United States, the figure rises to about 3 out of every 10 plant species!

There is a greater need today to renew our understanding the importance of plants to the well being of our citizen, our nation and the world. It is hard to imagine a more important mission.

Let's stop reading from the pamphlet for a bit and go inside the Conservatory. We will get back to the pamphlet when necessary.

Being the day after Christmas, I was not surprise to be greeted by Poinsettias but I had no idea there were so many different types! Ecke's Flaming Sphere and Winter Rose to name these above.

Marblestar, Silverstar Marble and something starting with the letters C and O and ending in Burgundy.

Red and White poinsettias are so beautiful together. My mother in law and another from her Garden Club, volunteered to set up over 20 Poinsettias at their church. I went along to help if needed. They had the most beautiful plants to place on the alter and at a bargain price from a local nursery. They were the biggest blooms I have ever seen on a Poinsettia!

I was impressed as to how well this Botanical garden was marked but still failed to catch the name of this beauty. I will let you know the names of the plants and flowers that I can remember or got a snapshot of the marker. Is this the same plant? Nope but still no name from me.

Name unknown.

Hoya Lanceolata ssp. Bella,

Milkweed family.

Shrimp plant.

Walking through makes one feel as if they are on a Tropical Island.

Pretty in Pink or is it Purple? Lets go in for a closer look.

Ah, Pink and Purple!

Can you see all the mushrooms amongst the palms and ferns?

Oh my goodness, What is this creature?

Not a creature at all but rather a Cleistocactus Winteri, Cactus family of course.

Do any of you know what this strange looking bloom could be?

It had us all baffled until we read the tag.

Cradle Orchid, Anguloa Clowesii

Orchid family-Orchidaceae

Columbia & Venezuela

Pamphlet; The USBG Orchid collection numbers about 5,000 specimens but hundreds of orchids are on display at any given time.

That is a lot of orchids! Lets look at some more shall we...

Ah, the scent in this room was totally awesome to the nose!

Orchids of so many different colors.

I could have spent more time in this room as it was heavenly to the eye and nose.

Foliage of different colored plants looked great together.

Being the animal lover I am, you know I am going to find an animal to let me snap a picture. If I had these all over my yard, I don't think I would complain about clipping them. They are so darn cute!

Tina, this one is for you. You know this bloom well don't you?

Maybe one day your banana tree will have a bunch of banana's such as this one.

Fresh Papaya's anyone?
How about an orange instead?

Surely you will have a bite of Pineapple.

No thank you to the peppers, they may be the really hot ones! Ouch to the tongue.

I could not pass this plant by without snapping a picture. This is for my two fur babies Sheba and Cheetah. Cat Whiskers! Yep, that is the name of this interesting beauty. You cat people will see the whisker immediately upon the plant naming.

We were intrigued by this spotted foliage. Polka dotted leaves. How cute indeed. I had never seen a Begonia Maculata before this day. Pamphlet;

A Wonderland of Monuments

The models are work of designer and landscape architect Paul G. Busse and his firm Applied Imagination of Alexandria, Kentucky. After studying architectural drawings and photographs of each building, Busse creates the basic structure with acrylic foam boards. Distinctive architectural details are added with dried plant materials. The time needed to construct each building depends on it complexity. It took over 600 hours to create the US Capitol structure. You see above.

See if you can recongize your monuments.

Nestled in amongst Poinsettia's.

It was fun seeing this exhibit.

Such thought went into the perfect placement for this well known monument.

Such detail and remember, everything you see is some type of natural material grown from our wonderful earth. Notice the dome.

Each structure was wired to light up for better viewing.

We were amazed at the details and thoroughly enjoyed seeing this display of such wonderful works of art.

Holly Tea Olive.

I was captivated by this bush being full of red berries but not one leaf! What was the name of this plant. Oh, I just cannot remember.

A favorite in my Georgia Garden as you regular readers know is of course Vinca (Periwinkle) I was so happy to see Madagascar Periwinkle during my wonderful visit to the UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN. I just love being In the Garden...