Jun 21 2009

United States Botanical Garden – 6/18/09

The same day that our group went to the Hillwood Estate and Gardens, we also went to the United States Botanical Garden. Driving in DC with the bus and two passenger vans ended up being a lot easier than I thought it might. Plus we got passes for parking at the garden, so essentially we drove right to the base of the capital building and got out! Since I used to go to DC a bit with family in the past, I know parking can be a huge hassle. Buuut yeah, we got right in!

The sun had decided to come out when we first got there. It sprinkled off and on while we were there, but none of us got too wet I don’t think.

The gardens are actually free admission, which is a pretty nice thing to have. And because its located at the end of the ‘Mall’, practically at the base of the capitol, it seemed a lot busier than the average visit to a botanical garden. Which is also a nice thing to have. DC is a mostly ‘free’ city though, so that also pulls people in to visit the area. And why not check out some plants while there? Thats my opinion anyway, haha.

They have a very cool exhibit right now called Flora: Growing Inspirations. These are some of the pieces from that exhibit…

We spent our time mainly in the conservatory which is divided up into different ‘rooms’ as it were. Their newest exhibit is the permanent Hawaii room.

Click HERE to see a floor plan of the conservatory at USBG. Or Click HERE to go to their main website.

By the time we were given a tour and had a chance to explore the conservatory, the rain started up again. We were also there to see the gardens production facilities, which are at the southern point of the city, not very near the gardens at all.

It was definitely an interesting drive. The rain was coming down so hard we could hardly see in front of us. I actually was able to ride in the passengers seat of our guides car on the way there, not in the back of the bus. So I felt a lot better! (I had been pretty car sick from the bus up to that point)

We weren’t able to go into all the production houses because it just so happened that that day was a ‘spraying’ day. And if you know anything about chemical applications at a botanical garden, safety is key. Although even if we were allowed anywhere near applications, I wouldn’t. I get crazy headaches from even just the residues of the pesticide and herbicide applications. But we did peak in a few of them just to get an idea of what types of plants they were growing there.

So even though I think the suits and ‘gas masks’ look silly, I certainly think its crucial that applications are done the safest. And at the USBG production facility, they were also very concerned about the safety of people as well as the environment.

The production houses are under Congress, and so they are the main ‘suppliers’ of indoor plants and displays at various governmental facilities in Washington. I guess it used to be that the houses would provide these services free of charge and now they charge for upkeep, removal, and replacement of the plants. Although i don’t really see what the difference is as the National garden and all production areas are funded directly from Congress anyway. It sounded like it was more for budgetary organization or something of that nature.

Since it was raining like crazy, the facilities were quite wet. It was sort of fun to dodge around the wet spots though. (Minus the camera issue; that always seems to be my main concern, not soaking the camera.. haha)