My daughter offered to take me to the Botanical Gardens today. Honestly, I haven’t seen much of her lately, she has been so busy with college and her job and her friends. When she mentioned it last night, it seemed like a sincere effort on her part to make a connection. I was delighted that she thought of me and of something she knew I would enjoy, since she knows how much I like flowers. It was very considerate of her.

We headed out there early and got a map. I asked her what she wanted to see first, since it was her idea. She chose the Rose Garden, which I thought was perfect. What a beautiful place it was! We could smell the fragrant roses long before we saw the first signs of the garden itself. I typically find drawn to varieties of tea roses but my daughter pointed out some breathtaking English Roses known as The Poet’s Wife. They were such a bright yellow and had such a lovely scent I fell in love with them. I might look for some to add to my own yard!

From there we walked through a meditation garden. My daughter took one of the sand rakes and made a pattern. I took lots of pictures when she wasn’t looking, her face so serious and happy at the same time. She was remarkably pleased by the pattern she made. It just looked like a lot of swirls to me but I was happy because she was happy.

Next, we went to what seemed to be more of a greenery garden instead of a flowering garden, My daughter laughed at the very strange looking Monkey Puzzle Tree. It looked an awful lot like a very sad pine tree. I thought something was wrong with it at first but apparently no, that’s how it should look.

After that, we both enjoyed the Butterfly Garden. There were several kinds of Asters, Black Eyed Susans, Daisies, Columbine, Zinnias, Marigolds, and Lilacs. It was so colorful and full of life. My favorite was the Sweet Pea, which are always so delicate looking. We watched the butterflies feeding for a while. One even tried to land on my daughter’s brightly colored shirt. She captured some nice pictures of these beautiful creatures with her phone.

The last garden we went to visit had some lovely orchids. My daughter was especially impressed with the brightly hued and beautifully patterned Vanda Coerulea. I found myself staring at some Lady Slipper orchids for quite a while. They were just amazing to see, and so colorful. However, both of us agreed that the prettiest orchids we saw were labeled as Dendrobium Cherry Song. While not necessarily as flashy as the Lady Slipper, they were so perfectly colored and shaped.

At that point, we had nearly looped around to the parking lot and we were both getting hungry. I am so glad that we had this time to spend together. On the way home, my daughter was talking about her favorite flowers and how she wanted to plant some in our yard as a reminder of this nice day together. How sweet is that?