Fall Foliage Festival Part Two: Individual Plants!
One thing that is always fun about exploring botanical gardens is getting exposed to interesting and strange plants! While in the woods, one mostly see native plants and invasive plants. Both of which are delightful (yes, even a lot of invasive plants are full of their own delight! I wouldn't wish them upon the woods, but I admire their tenacity and will to grow!). But with botanical gardens, you can almost be guaranteed to experience the wonder of encountering a plant rarely or never seen before! There were all sorts of really neat plants I saw while enjoying the Fall Foliage Festival at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way.
Here are some of the interesting plant specimens I admired while at the garden:
As you'll probably notice, there were several photos of Ferns. This is because part of the garden was little fern area sponsored by the Hardy Fern Foundation. The Hardy Fern Foundation is a group for true fern enthusiasts! I love when people get really obsessed and inspired by something so particular. They aren't just plant enthusiasts, they are fern enthusiasts. They see great beauty in ferns above all other plants and they manifest their joy of fern's beauty through creating and supporting and organization all about their beloved passion. I just love how us humans have such a wide variety of passions. We are inspired by such a variety of different things and we can all interpret beauty and wonder in our own unique way.
The Hardy Fern Foundation has a variety of affiliated gardens. Even though the foundation is also located in federal way (as is the Rhododendron Botanical Garden), the affiliated gardens are all over the place. Most are in the PNW and Seattle area but there are also affiliated gardens in Denver, Alabama, Maine and Ohio just to name a few. The affiliated gardens get free fern specimens and in return, the Hardy Fern Foundation gets to evaluate the success of the plants to gather information about the hardiness of the plants and their viability in various climates.
I do understand a little bit about the Hardy Fern Foundation members love of the fern because I did once have a magical experience involving a fern. My partner once got me a really cool present that I recommend for everyone: a portable microscope! It is inspiring to take it outside on a sunny day and look at a variety of things close up: rocks, pieces of wood, leaves, flowers, insect exoskeletons...really whatever little wonders of nature you can find. It is amazing how simple objects we see everyday can have a whole new layer of beauty when we are exposed to the parts of the object that are usually too small for us to see.
One time, I looked through the microscope at the back of a fern frond. It was amazing! The brown puffy spores were floating around the back of the fern, and there was a tiny little insect wandering the surrealist landscape of the fern. I felt like was viewing a close up of an alien planet.
Here are some of the interesting plant specimens I admired while at the garden:
As you'll probably notice, there were several photos of Ferns. This is because part of the garden was little fern area sponsored by the Hardy Fern Foundation. The Hardy Fern Foundation is a group for true fern enthusiasts! I love when people get really obsessed and inspired by something so particular. They aren't just plant enthusiasts, they are fern enthusiasts. They see great beauty in ferns above all other plants and they manifest their joy of fern's beauty through creating and supporting and organization all about their beloved passion. I just love how us humans have such a wide variety of passions. We are inspired by such a variety of different things and we can all interpret beauty and wonder in our own unique way.
The Hardy Fern Foundation has a variety of affiliated gardens. Even though the foundation is also located in federal way (as is the Rhododendron Botanical Garden), the affiliated gardens are all over the place. Most are in the PNW and Seattle area but there are also affiliated gardens in Denver, Alabama, Maine and Ohio just to name a few. The affiliated gardens get free fern specimens and in return, the Hardy Fern Foundation gets to evaluate the success of the plants to gather information about the hardiness of the plants and their viability in various climates.
I do understand a little bit about the Hardy Fern Foundation members love of the fern because I did once have a magical experience involving a fern. My partner once got me a really cool present that I recommend for everyone: a portable microscope! It is inspiring to take it outside on a sunny day and look at a variety of things close up: rocks, pieces of wood, leaves, flowers, insect exoskeletons...really whatever little wonders of nature you can find. It is amazing how simple objects we see everyday can have a whole new layer of beauty when we are exposed to the parts of the object that are usually too small for us to see.
One time, I looked through the microscope at the back of a fern frond. It was amazing! The brown puffy spores were floating around the back of the fern, and there was a tiny little insect wandering the surrealist landscape of the fern. I felt like was viewing a close up of an alien planet.