I dig the U.S. Botanical Garden
Before I became a city slicker, I was a backwoods hick.
And as a backwoods hick, I've always liked plants. It's in my blood. My great-grandfather was a farmer, my grandfather was a farmer, my father was a farmer, and, for a time, I was a farmer too. Spinach, if you care to know.
If you're like me and you dig greenery, I highly recommend checking out the U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington.
It's free (which, as we all know, makes everything better), and has a ton of wild, beautiful plants.
I think my personal favorite was the pitcher plant, a carnivorous species which grows large pitcher-shaped jugs with a saliva-like substance inside. Flies and other small creatures slip into the jugs and are digested. Yum. In the jungle, these bad boys get so big they catch rats and snakes. Dig it.
I also enjoyed the bull's horn acacia ...
These trees team up with a species of ants to help survive. The plant provides a home for the ants in its hollow, horn-shaped thorns, and makes a sweet nectar that feeds them. In return, the ants protect the plant by stinging anything that threatens it. They even clear the ground around the plant, and stop other plants from getting too close. How wild is that?
Anyhow, if you like plants (or you like taking pictures of plants), you should really check out the Botanical Garden.
(Photo of an orchid courtesy of the Botanical Garden)
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
Please not to forget Baltimore's own long-ignored charm, the Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens in Druid Hill Park, the "Victorian bird cage" right near the intersection of Druid Hill Park Drive and Gwynn Falls Parkway. Admission is by donation, quite reasonable.
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | June 28, 2009 9:45 AM