Fort Wayne Botanical Conservatory

 

This morning we visited the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory in Fort Wayne. It is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a special exhibit of art glass. These larger pieces were made in 2004 by Michael Kahle to celebrate the conservatory's 20th anniversary. They have been in storage since display until this year. After this exhibit ends November 17th, the pieces will be sold to individuals or companies interested in them. I think it would be rather difficult to blow glass pieces so large. In addition to the Kahle pieces, some smaller pieces were purchased this year to put in the exhibit. I actually like the smaller ones better. These newer pieces are blended into the landscape. 

To contribute to the glass theme, there were shards of colorful glass next to some of the pillars and strewn among the gravel paths.

It wouldn't be worth it to me to put bits of glass among the stones. How hard it will be to clean all of those out of the exhibit hall paths. Of course there were flowers as part of the display.

Though I am getting some relief from recently-prescribed Celebrex, I find I still need to sit down every 12-15 minutes so the ramped-up pain can subside. Fortunately, this was a good venue for that as there were plentiful benches in the room. It was pleasant with air circulating throughout the conservatory. The sunshine brought out the best in the glass. 

We lunched at Biaggi's at Jefferson Point followed by shopping at Trader Joe's. I had seen comments about the pumpkin-flavored foods being featured for autumn. Maybe we will get tired of pumpkin; however, I see the expiration date for the soup is December 2025. For that, there is always next year. Bet it won't last in the cupboard that long.

Fort Wayne Botanical Conservatory

We went to Granite City restaurant in Fort Wayne for brunch this morning, then drove downtown to the Botanical Conservatory.

Right now, the conservatory has a special exhibit of butterflies. Next to the butterfly tent was a cocoon nursery so that new butterflies keep hatching throughout the several months of the display.
The gauzy tent was entered carefully thru an anteroom and exited through another "room" with mirrors so you could check yourself for stowaway butterflies. They did land on people from time to time. They also sat on the ground so one had to watch where one stepped so as not to crush any butterflies.

 The Owl Butterfly thought my husband's tan pants were a swell place to perch.

 We finally took the butterfly ID paper and transferred it so we could blow it away.

 The common morpho was gorgeous in flight as the top of the wings were blue, but I could only get a photo with the wings folded.

This great Mormon was easy to photograph. The plants and dishes of sponges with something sweet really did attract the creatures.

 God created such diverse beauty in these butterflies.

The Clipper

 A Scarlet Mormon I think

Great Egg-Fly Butterflies

 The separate gardens of the conservatory didn't take long to stroll through. The conservatory is in the middle of downtown.

 

 The Showcase Garden which held the butterfly tent had bug statues in the flower beds around the tent.

The humidity of the Tropical Garden was high. Mostly bromeliads and orchids and bird of paradise and ferns in this room with a waterfall.

 It felt good to get outside to the Terrace Garden and the Exploration Garden. The terrace pool had metal grids filled with pieces of colorful glass meandering through the water.

 I have never seen such large peony blooms.

 The Exploration Garden had nice shady spots to sit on benches. It would be a lovely place for office workers to bring lunch and worth the annual membership fee. A single visit is $5.
Lots of daffodils with spent blooms and currently irises.

 Our last garden to visit was the Desert Garden. Plenty warm in this room. It was fun to see vegetation that reminded me of Texas.

 Prickly pear starting to bloom.

 My own home "garden" has lots of portulaca blooms to enjoy.

 Though the day started out gray and overcast, we had some sun at the conservatory. Kind of gloomy at home for awhile, but now in late afternoon we have sunshine. 

It has been an upbeat weekend with the butterflies and flowers. I even saw a bit of the royal wedding before heading out to garage sales. I bought "flowers" there, too.