OldRoses Revealed!

Featuring Guest Photographers!

Ever since the Rutgers Garden Open House my left foot has been very painful to walk on. I finally went to the doctor when the pain became intolerable. Diagnosis: stress fracture probably from all of the running around I did at the Open House. Treatment: stay off of it and keep it elevated and iced. Impossible! Rutgers Gardens was sponsoring a tour of Longwood Gardens. I've been dying to go back there. So . . . yesterday, with the help of a walking stick loaned to me by a fellow volunteer and completely AMA, I joined the Rutgers Gardens volunteers on a tour led by the Volunteer Coordinator. She was so impressed by my fortitude that she took a few pictures.

I am not at all photogenic, but these came out so well that I thought I would share them. Here I am, stepping out from behind the camera for the first time on this blog . . .

"Hobbling through the conservatory"

This is one of my favorite parts of the conservatory. After the heat and humidity of the tropical rooms, it's always a relief to spend some time in the dryer environment. Remember! It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

"I like that one the best!"

The last time we were here in January, the group lost me in the orchid room. I couldn't get over the incredible number and variety of orchids on display. By the way, the woman in the picture should look familiar. She was kind enough to pose for me to provide scale in one of my photos.

"That's a lotus"

Here she is again pointing out a lotus plant to me. I've never seen one in person, only in photos or in museums painted on the walls of ancient tombs. I was thrilled to be able to finally get "up close and personal" with this ancient plant.

"That's a Water-Platter"

I took advantage as often as possible of the many benches scattered around to rest my foot. Here, the Volunteer Coordinator was kind enough to spend some time discussing the water-platters with me. Again, a plant I had never seen in person.

"That's really tall!"

And here we are agog at the height of the plants in the Palm House. We are standing on a second story balcony and the trees are towering at least another story over our heads.

"Look! Grapes hanging from the ceiling"

This is the Estate Fruit House. You can't really see the grapes in this shot. Here's a better one:

"What a color!"

Outside of the Terrace Restaurant was a container with elephant ear. This photo really doesn't do justice to the brightness of the color.

"There are tomatoes all the way to the top of the tepee!"

This is a great garden showing how a wide variety of flowers, vegetables and fruit can be grown in an attractive manner in the space of a normal-sized backyard.

"The Queen Bee"

Everyone loves to sit on this "throne" in the Children's Garden. It was a good place to take another short break.

"Where's the Rock Garden?"

We were all looking forward to seeing the Rock Garden, one of our last stops. But when we got there, we discovered that it has been removed so that new steps could be installed. What a disappointment.

Many, many thanks to my guest photographers, "M", our Volunteer Coordinator and the one who came up with the idea for this post as well as taking most of the photos, and "A", my good friend, fellow volunteer, gardener and cat lover, who gamely posed with me as well as taking some great photos. You both made what could have been a very miserable day for me into a lot of fun as we scouted locations and recruited volunteers for our "Backwards Pictures".

You guys are the best!