Monday, September 27, 2010

Our Vacation, Part 4

The Como Park has a very large building--the Conservatory--that houses some wonderful gardens.  If I lived closer, I would spend hours in this building.  The place is quite peaceful--full of plants of all types and ponds and water fountains.  Just a wonderful place.  And, of course, I took pictures.

Outside of the Visitor Center, there are water ponds--and there were some wonderful plants.




The Conservatory is divided into several 'rooms'--each room houses different plants.  A very humid and warm room was the fern room.  I didn't know where to look first, as there was so much to see.













There was an Orchid House, which was off-limits to all but the staff.  We were able to look into it through a window--not able to take pictures, however--and the flowers were amazing.  I really wished I could have gotten closer to them.

If it wouldn't have been another very humid and warm room, I think the Palm Dome might have been my favorite room.  It had wonderful benches for sitting and a gorgeous pool/fountain in the middle.









Of the gardens, the Sunken Garden was my favorite.  It was filled with flowers and had a beautiful pond in the middle. The openness of the room was much different from the other ones--and it was very bright, which was also different from the fern and palm rooms.







My favorite room in the Conservatory was the Bonsai Gallery.  This room is meant, strictly, for viewing the bonsai on display--it is not a place to sit and relax, as you can in the other rooms.

Golden Wissel Cypress--65 years old



Japanese White Pine--45 years old



 Ponderosa Pine--115 years old



Horsetail Tree--100(?) years old


White Cedar


Japanese Maple

There is one more post that I will do from the park--and then I will be done with my vacation pictures.  We had a great time, as can be seen from the pics.




8 comments:

  1. I'm SUCH a nerd when it comes to things like this. ;) I LOVE plants and flowers, etc, but I HATE being outside--go figure--so when I get to enjoy them INSIDE, I'm overjoyed. :D

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  2. Oh my goodness. These are amazing. I have never seen so many beautiful plants and flowers. What an excellent experience for you. :)

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  3. I loved it--like I said, I'm SUCH a nerd about things like this. ;)

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  4. Anonymous9:56 AM

    I love bonsai! and I was fascinated by that palm tree that has the ball-like things hanging from it, do you know what they are?

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  5. If you're asking about the third palm pic down--the very large objects--I believe that is a papaya. AND the picture may have been from the 'tropical' room--they all seemed to run together. :) You could actually SMELL the fruit on the trees in some places. It was neat.

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  6. I love the conservatory--my daughter got married there--so beautiful.

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  7. The people who live close to it are so very lucky!

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