Flora Mounts, Part One

I now have last weekend's photos off the camera card! Success! (I was trying to us a new download format that just didn't work.) They are not formatted (re-sized smaller) to post here yet, though. Tomorrow I'll post some of those photos, I hope. Today - I've got more Mounts Botanical Garden to show you!

I am also frantically trying to maximize my 3.5 days at home before I leave town again for the rest of the month. S and I both leave tomorrow for two weeks in Europe - I'm advancing a tour we'll do there for work next year. S is my bodyguard. He's the best one around. And so cute, too! We'll be in five cities in the UK, (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Basingstoke and Reading) then to Amsterdam, Bielefeld, Germany, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Vienna and Prague. All in two weeks. Then we fly home to enjoy spring.

It is supposed to be cold and sort of wet while we're there. I am taking the camera to shoot photos of backstage areas, hotels, airports, etc. And, of course, to photograph some interesting stuff for you, my blog readers.

My 9 blog readers - who ever thought I'd get to 9! That's amazing stuff! Is there a #10 out there? If so, P-uh-lllleasse think about "following" over there on the left, and post some comments once in a while! I love getting feedback from you. And, that's a lot to ask from 9 people. So, help them out.

OK, back to the subject at hand - I plan to take photos to post here, too. But, S and I have decided, with all the cars, planes and trains we have to board it is not really smart to take the laptop with us. Many of our hotels have business centers, so I'm going to take the card reader and hope to post from there. But, if you come here and there is nothing new, you know our grand scheme did not work. And, you'll see the updates from where we've been when we return. Please return to see the updates!

I hope - hope - hope to be able to post some from the road. But, until then, here are some more bee-you-tee-full flowers. And, some other stuff later in the week. It'll all be here. Until it isn't. Or, maybe it will all be here! Who knows. OK - on to the flora...

There were so many beautiful flowers in this Mounts Botanical Garden that I can't even put them all into one post. Here are some of the pretty plants I got to see while I was there. I am sorry I haven't had time to identify all these plants - I plan to do so at some point - it's just that, well, life has been very busy lately.



I don't know what these are, but they were not only all over the garden (and not marked, so the locals must know what they are) but also found all over the area. They made for some good picture taking.

Aren't those just beautiful blooms?

It was strange to see cannas already in bloom.
These are full sun-hot summer plants in Texas.

I'm pretty sure this was some kind of bird of paradise.

Of the begonia family, I think.
(And a bee...)

Here is that busy bee I showed you last week.
And of course, the lovely orange flower.

These looked ever-so-delicate.

What on earth is this?

Bromeliads - I can't keep these alive in my house.

These little packets of rose-like blooms were on a big bush-like plant.

A flowering tree. One of many.

There were lots of roses - but many were past their prime.

Another rose variety.

Another pretty purple flowering tree.

These reminded me of the dollar weed you can't seem
to ever extricate from the St. Augustine in Dallas.

And one more pretty rose variety.

I'll have at least one more post of the pretty flowers in the Mounts Botanical Garden. But, that's enough for today. Thoughts of spring abound.