Last week, Brad and I went on a date to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in Charlotte. We haven’t been there since before we moved to the area! We had such a great time and took so many pictures that our date will be spread out over several blog entries.
When we arrived, we paid at the front desk. Brad got a picture of Felix on the floor looking at him while I paid. We also got a picture of the seal for the park, and a picture of Felix and me in front of some giant glass orchids.
Then we headed out to enjoy the gardens. Our first stop was the orchid house, which is a giant greenhouse full of orchids and other tropical plants.
When we walked in, we were greeted with purple orchids, which Brad had to get a picture of Felix and me with. Then we headed down this aisle way that had arches full of epiphytic plants on them. These are plants that don’t need soil to grow. They just grow based off the water in the air. It was gorgeous! We got some pictures of Brad there, too.
Next we got some pictures in a sunny corner of the greenhouse. Felix was on the floor for these pictures, and I was in my wheelchair. There were some really cool pink orchids and a flower that I don’t know how to describe really. It had a stalk that was red with tiny white and blue leaf-looking flowers on it.
We rounded the corner and found a waterfall surrounded by tropical plants. It seemed like the rainforest! Felix didn’t want to get too close to the water. They also had lots of one of my favorite types of plants—Bromeliads. These look like the tops of pineapples, except the middles are red or orange or other bright colors.
There was a hidden more Asian-looking area of the greenhouse that we went to next. There was a dark pool behind us in these pictures, and white flowered plants on pedestals in front of the water. It was a great place for shots of Brad, as well.
We got a few more pictures of the tropical flowers and orchids in the orchid house. Namely some blue-purple orchids, a red bromeliad, and some pink and white orchids.
After leaving the orchid house, we wanted to have a picnic lunch. We went through a trellised area to find a cool fountain! Brad got some neat shots of the water, and some pictures of some bees on some nearby purple flowers (some of these through a distorting crystal, for a different feel).
After lunch, we headed to the Children’s Garden, which you will have to read about in my next blog entry!
Aechmea fendleri