The botanical gardens visit last weekend was absolutely charming! I’d explored the gardens before on my own and my friends, but I’d never taken an actual tour. The tour also fascinated me because I was hoping to meet someone who would teach me how to revive my daisy plant, Mira, from the dead. So I was very excited to meet our tour guide.
Our guide was sweet and extremely knowledgable- she had over twenty years of experience giving tours and taking care of the plants in the gardens. We started at the tropical plants outside the entrance of the welcome building. There, I learned that bananas grow on plants, not trees. Then, we walked to tour our first garden- the winter garden. As our group walked, our guide pointed out a gray shed. She said it belonged to a Cornell alumni and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a woman who had discovered jumping genes through her research with corn plants. It was amazing to see the place where such an amazing woman once worked. Afterwards, we walked into the first full garden of our tour.
The winter garden is full of evergreens and will be the only garden still gorgeous when winter comes. My favorite part of the winter garden tour was when an adorable dog interrupted our tour and walked between our legs. Our guide told its owner to put it on a leash because of the garden policy, but I still loved it.
Our next garden was the flower garden! It was a rainbow of color. Our guide told us that people would send messages to each other using ‘flower language’. Essentially, different flowers and colors had different messages. For instance, a yellow rose, which today represents friendship, used to mean that a woman did not want to see her suitor anymore. That was absolutely fascinating!
Next, we visited the food garden, and then the herb and medicinal garden. Our guide warned us not to touch the black peppers. Then we picked, smelled and passed around a few plants, such as a plant used to clot blood, and another used to make moth balls.
Afterwards, we exited the gardens to look at plants growing in the shade of some lofty trees. There I saw what I think is now my favorite plant- the Japanese sea anemone. It has the most beautiful pink blossoms. Our tour ended with us examining the trunks of the tallest trees. Lightening rods had been installed to redirect electricity into the ground and prevent the energy from exploding the trees.
I was sad when the tour came to the end. But afterwards, I ran up to our guide and asked her what to do with Mira, my daisy. After we talked I learned that I had been watering the poor thing top much! And now she’s coming back to life. What a knowledgeable trip.