Lunch break

On my lunch hour, I walked a few blocks to the DC Botanic Garden.

Limited by time, there wasn't nearly enough room to see everything that it had to offer. However, I did make a beeline for the orchid room, which was the room I was most anxious to view.

In it, there were many varieties. I quickly spotted some favorites, which popped due to their vivacious colors. There were some very intricate flowers, like something you'd see on another planet, and others that looked less like orchids and more like daffodils. I did spot this one that I fell in love with. Guess it kind of reminded me of a painting... a white canvas with a sunburst explosion. I enjoyed the clean feel and the energy contained in its center.

There were many other rooms too. I quickly smelled my way through a room featuring spices of all kinds. Pausing to sniff a few, I was relieved that I had already eaten- they would have made me hungry!

There was an adjacent room that had several endangered plants. In it, were a lot of cacti and orchids. There were some humorous looking cacti. Some with "fur" on them. One was called the "old woman cactus" or something like that. As I peered down at it on the ground, it looked like the top of an older woman's head, covered in this gray fuzz.

I couldn't help but wonder who gets to choose the common names of plants? And how did that "nervous plant" get its name?

I am planning to go back more in the week. It definitely will require some more trips if I'm to see it all on my lunch breaks.