I have been very much looking forward to this one!
Alas, Jonas wasn’t feeling up to it and so he stayed home today. And I gotta say, it was kinda weird without him. (I love you my Juju Beast!)
So, the Conservatory opens at 10. But the outdoor gardens open earlier. So, we decided to go check out the outdoor gardens before it got too hot. And then we’d be there when the conservatory opened.
And since we go there early, we got heckin’ lucky with parking. We were parked about 10 feet away from one of the entrances. It was the best.
We started in the “Regional Garden” which had a pond with water plants. And of course, the kids were drawn directly to the pond.
We then continued and ended up (very briefly) in the First Ladies’ Water Garden. But the water was off-limits and there was an awesome sculpture ahead, so we only stayed for a brief moment or two.
There was a section showcasing a bunch of different kinds of roses, which was cool. But I actually preferred the plants planted around the roses.
After we’d been wandering for a minute Logan said “Mom, have you noticed that I’ve been in the pictures today?”
And I had noticed. He really made an effort today. It was honestly the sweetest thing. I yud that guy.
At about this time the conservatory opened. But there was a fairly big line to get in right as it opened, and so we decided to hold off until the crowds had spread out a little bit. And we checked out the gardens right around the conservatory entrance.
Today was an awesome day to visit the Botanic Garden, because it wasn’t going to be a super hot day: mid 70s. And so, it was very pleasant to wander around.
Eventually, the line into the conservatory had died down, and so we decided to head on in. The Conservatory is huge and so the crowd had spread out enough for our tastes.
Right in the entrance, there is a Corpse flower (so called because they smell like rotting meat; we can attest that they do, in fact, smell quite awful) and it was in bloom! And ENORMOUS! It was nearly 8 feet tall when we visited the garden. I actually hadn’t known about it before we came, and so that was a fun surprise.
Let’s be honest, we were here for the Rainforest room! And so that’s where we went next! Hooray. It was huge! We wandered through the lower level first, and then made our way up to the catwalks to see the room from above.
We found out from a docent, as we entered the conservatory, that they have a cool children’s garden, which Logan really was excited about. And so we checked out some other parts of the Conservatory: the Orchid room (Yay Bromeliads!), the Mediterranean room, the desert room as we made our way in that direction.
I have to say, these kids are champs. Every time we’re near a botanical garden I add it to the itinerary. And they are always so kind to indulge me.
Now, when we heard that the Children’s garden was worth a visit, I expected it to be a pretty standard playground with some nice (durable!) plants all around.
This blew us away with the awesomeness.
There were several above ground garden beds with plants that visitors could actually plant, and the tools to do so: trowels and watering cans.
The day we went they had a bunch of cilantro plants, and some marigolds and other edible plants available for kids to plant. Clara and Logan both very lovingly planted their marigolds in one of the planters.
Meanwhile, the twins each grabbed a water can and started watering everything in sight. Eventually, Evie started “cleaning the dirt” (??)
After planting their plants, Logan and Clara both went and repaired the (in their views) shoddy planting jobs that had come before.
We probably spent 45 minutes here. The kids had the best time, they were positively delighted. And I had the best time watching them and their delight.
Oh yeah! There was also a playground (which Logan wasn’t terribly impressed by) and a misting water feature. (I bet that thing is super popular on hot days. It felt good even on a relatively cool day)
But yeah, like I said, we spent the majority of our time interacting with the plants and dirt.
By this point, we were nearing the appointed hour at which we needed to head back to the house.
So, we bid the plants adieu. As we left, we took the opportunity to take a picture with the Capitol building, now that we were so much closer to it than we had been last time we dropped by.
This was definitely a highlight of our time in D.C.
And we only saw a fraction of it. We’ll just have to come back. With Jonas and Jonathan.
