New Orleans Botantical Garden

March 3, 2017

My second attempt to visit the New Orleans Botanical Garden was successful.  I was amazed at the range of plants in bloom, from normal spring flowers to plants I associate with early summer.

The day was so bright that I fought to get decent pictures of flowers. Bees, butterflies, and dragonflies added to the color and movement.

A look across the entrance garden to more blooms across the street

Huge live oaks grow between the street and the garden rooms. 

The garden is quite small but is laid out in a series of "rooms" formed by very tall hedges and  connected by long "hallways" that give beautiful sight lines. Different rooms were dedicated to different kinds of plants.  One of my favorites was the room of antique roses.  Other rooms were dedicated to spring flowering plants. However the hot weather was causing most of the azaleas and camellias to finish blooming early and to make the tulips blooms finish early.  I also enjoyed the speciality gardens, including the railroad garden, the vegetable garden and the butterfly garden.

Volunteers were working in the large vegetable garden

The most amazing things I saw in the vegetable garden were spaghetti squash blooms

One of the most stunning hardscapes was the living wall behind a black splash fountain

The living wall extended to form a gate to one of the main paths

The buildings added to the loveliness of the landscape - this housed the ferns, bromeliads, and orchids 

The reflecting pool added to the view

The huge philodendron drew me in

I shot this picture down the tube of a relative of angel trumpet that was growing inside the rainforest area of a greenhouse

I was amazed to see bottle bush in bloom

But the kumquats are normal for this time of year

Blooming abutilons were an amazement 

Loved this juxtaposition of the two species of tulips

The most awesome thing I saw at the garden was the speed at which the waterlilies were opening. I went by the pond soon after the garden opened and saw that the waterlilies had buds but no flowers.  Before I left, I went by the pond again and saw some lilies had opened and other formerly tight buds were now showing color. It seems that many plants are rushing their blooming.

Water lilies were in bud around 11:00

And were in almost full flower a few hours later

And other species of lilies were showing color when I checked them a second time

A large grassy mall area had this tree and gardens around it

Monarchs were already in residence and seemed to be mating

More butterfly plants were ready for their pollinators

A few dragonflies were also enjoying hunting in the garden

A white shrimp plant - not sure if the hummingbirds like this color as much as the pink which was also blooming

This blooming lily really surprised me - I think of them as summer plants

These are just a few of the pictures I took.  I'll share some others with you later. One of the most surprising areas was the railroad garden.  Stay tuned.