LOOKS OMINOUS, PLUS BONUS SNAP

Something else unusual from the Climatron. Looks a little scary to me, like something poisonous or a creature that would bud and swell and sprawl until it had devoured everything in sight. The unfocused leaf on the right could be its henchman.

We got our first serious snow of the winter yesterday. The picture below was taken from my front porch at noon with a temperature of 3 F / -16 C. The snow continued all afternoon and into the evening. Other places had it worse. Texas was about completely shut down. It snowed in Houston, for heaven's sake. That's like asphalt melting from a heat wave in Fairbanks.

             

FALSE PALM

Things I know about plants: both Canada and the New York City Parks Department use the maple leaf as an emblem. There is a Monty Python sketch called "How to Recognize Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away." Gin comes from juniper berries. Evergreens are about the same color year round. I could live without asparagus. And a few other things.

One of my legal colleagues identified the plant in yesterday's post as fireweed (news to me) using a phone app called PlantSnap. I downloaded it and it's amazing, able to identify flora even from photographs. We will put it to use during our virtual walk around the Climatron. What makes this variety untrue it didn't say.                 

VALENTINE

Somewhere between red Valentine hearts and that Rolling Stones logo with the big curved red tongue, this salacious plant was found yesterday at the botanical garden. I have no idea what it is. I'm more interested in imagry than botany.

It's bitterly cold here by our standards. (Again, no jokes from residents of Frostbite Falls, etc.). There are only a handful of things to do indoors but a new opportunity came around. The Climatron at the botanical garden, that amazing, big, multi-climate geodesic dome, has been reopened on a limited basis. Mrs. C and I took a stroll through yesterday. Since my cupboard is otherwise bare, it looks like days of plants in this space. I promise it will be worth a look.                   

MIDWINTER

This is the typical look of midwinter around here. Dull skies, dull ground, rare snow. Cold but not terrible. This scene in the Japanese garden, however, is a lot more attractive than the usual humdrum urban/suburban landscape.

The oracles say that some of this is about to change, with bitter cold temperatures and a fair amount of snow Sunday and Monday. We'll see, as 45 liked to say.           

BEAUX ARTS

The back of a bench in the botanical garden near the home of Henry Shaw, its founder and benefactor. You try getting a wild bird to sit on your forefinger. But it's all pretty Belle Epoque decor, well suited to its surroundings. Might not feel so good on your back, though.