Thursday, September 4, 2014

Meadowlark Gardens

I mentioned in my last post that we discovered a new garden to visit last week: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. It's a little bit further out of town, but definitely worth an afternoon visit. I don't think my photos really do it justice because it's gorgeous and has just the right amount of pristine landscaped greenery combined with wilder natural areas.

We saw a couple of beavers; I think this one is a baby. We also saw lots of bunnies and a few colorful birds I'd never seen before too.

I think originally there was a farm on this land, and there's still an old log cabin here.

There are also the remains of an old spring house.

And of course, there are lots of pretty flowers. I'm going to try and do a better job of learning the names of plants and flowers I like. I actually took Botany in college, and I really liked that class and did well in it, but sadly my brain sort of has a "use it or lose it" policy, and I've forgotten most of what I learned back then. It would be nice to know, though, if for no other reason than my own curiosity.

I have lots more pics to share soon. xo, Mary

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I love going to gardens like this. Seeing wildlife is always so exciting. I really want to learn more about flowers & plants too, I have a few vintage field guides I should actually read.

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  2. Wow. What a nice place to walk and explore nature.

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  3. Your photos are gorgeous Mary! There is a place about 25 minutes from me called Cantigny that reminds me of this, and it's one of my favorite places to go walking. I haven't brought Essley there yet but your post inspired me and I'm going to make sure I get over there soon.

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  4. Oh! I love finding old buildings! I learned recently that my local arboretum used to have a homestead on it, and I found the foundation of the barn during a hike. The original farmers were from France and settled in Illinois in the 1870s. The property was destroyed by a tornado at some point and then re-built. The house was taken down when the arboretum bought the land, but they left the barn foundation--I assume because it was original.

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