A trip through the Garden Part 1
Last spring I went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens. It was spring when they do their "Butterflies are blooming" display. They bring in many, many chrysalises and place them in their tropical exhibit. They are very careful to check people as they leave that no butterflies are hitchhiking. No exotic species are released that way.
I like to go every year. Not only is it fun to see the butterflies, they have beautiful plants throughout. I took a lot of pictures. There are only a small portion that I'm going to show you. You may now breathe a sigh of relief. :)
Because there are so many I'm going to break them up into three posts. Some photos I'll explain, others I'll leave to your imagination.
It starts in the desert house. I had to snap a few pictures here.
Then it moves into a more temperate zone.
Then it was into the tropical part. You'll have to click on these and check out the Large size in order to see the butterflies. Those little buggers are really hard to shoot.
More to come in part 2...
I like to go every year. Not only is it fun to see the butterflies, they have beautiful plants throughout. I took a lot of pictures. There are only a small portion that I'm going to show you. You may now breathe a sigh of relief. :)
Because there are so many I'm going to break them up into three posts. Some photos I'll explain, others I'll leave to your imagination.
It starts in the desert house. I had to snap a few pictures here.
Then it moves into a more temperate zone.
Then it was into the tropical part. You'll have to click on these and check out the Large size in order to see the butterflies. Those little buggers are really hard to shoot.
More to come in part 2...
Squirl chattered at 8:19 AM
25 comments
I love the cacti! Especially the one that is blooming the pink flowers. That barrel cactus looks really impressive too.
The butterflies are quite pretty. It looks like you did just fine getting shots of them. :-)
I'll be looking forward to the next installments.
Now THAT must have been a LOVELY trip through the gardens!
The second pic with the pink flowers is lovely!
Happy Chocolate Tuesday Squirl!
Danielle, thanks! It really is a nice garden. You ought to see the butterfly shots I had to dump. At least I got a few.
Effie, yes, it really was. Thanks! Is this really chocolate Tuesday?!? Sounds good to me. :)
Holy Moly -- that's gorgeous! But I had to laugh, because out here there's a Target-type chain of stores called "Fred Meyers", and they have a pretty comprehensive garden center in the Spring/Summer, so initially, I thought you were joking about where you went. But, you probably don't have Freddy's out there, do you? Ha! Joke's on me!!
Every Tuesday is Chocolate Tuesday--declared a few months ago by Chocolate K--who I found through Circus Kelli....I have decided it was a worthy cause that should be kept up!
So--today at break I had a chocolate milk rather than the usual regular milk! ;)
Eclectic, thanks! But what's even funnier is that long before there was the Frederik Meijer Gardens there was Meijer's Thrifty Acres, a line of grocery stores that grew into the super stores with all kinds of departments. I know they've been around since the 60s here. I did hear about your Fred Meyers from a friend who moved to WA. It was a good chuckle.
Effie, well then, that's good enough for me. I've been keeping dark chocolate Kisses at my desk to try to keep away from whole candy bars. I think it's time for my second Kiss. :)
That is so cool. I love butterflies.
Thanks, Kranki, they are so cool. Sometimes they land on a person. I'll have to tell that story another day.
Well, um, after the awful thing I said about cacti in my last post, I can't look at some of these pictures without a very rotten giggle. But that's a good thing.
Always wanted to check out the Meijer gardens but never did. Glad for the photo essay!
Are these named after the Fred Meijer that starter Meijer's? Or is that just a common name in west Michigan?
Bucky, that's the exact same Fred Meijer. They even have a big bronze statue of him out in the outside gardens.
And what timing, that I should post about the cacti now. At least it made you giggle. like that's a hard thing to do :)
Okay, so getting me to giggle is easy.
Getting me to stop giggling is a lot tougher.
Yes, you do have a good point there.
Yes, Kittn, the serene pictures and the mental images might have brightened your morning. :)
Them's some nice flutterbies you got there lady.
Thanks, Mr B. And that's kinda cool, cuz I like to call them flutterbies, too. :)
How absolutely cool would that be? Oh, I SO want to go to the butterfly garden too! I guess I will have to live vicariously through your photos, Miss.
Lovely photos, Squirl! What a beautiful place to visit.
There's a nice flutterbies garden up near Effie, but I elected to stay in the bus on that little trip. It was TOO hot out and I was ready to stay in the AC for a bit.
Mr. B--it's a good thing you didn't go in to the Butterfly Conservatory if you were already hot--they don't cool it down in there as most of the flutterbies are tropical and need the warmth! When my hubby and I went to visit, the moment I walked inside there were butterflies flying around, swooping down by my head and it freaked me out! I felt like the room was filled with bugs, and, really, butterflies ARE insects, but after a minute, I had myself calmed down as they really are BEAUTIFUL! We spent most of our time there trying to get a good photo of a big beautiful blue butterfly and then trying to identify them after. Fabulous!
I just went to the butterfly house and wrote my post about it with a slide show.....It is awesome, seeing all those little beauties. and they land on you.....I got some pretty good shots....
Your pictures are wonderful, as usual....and I love the cacti too.
Jim, happy to have live vicariously though my pictures. Don't you guys have anything like that over there?
Ladybug, thanks! It really is a fun place.
Mr B, Effie's right. It's always hotter where the butterflies are.
Effie, I know they're bugs, but they're so pretty. A friend of mine can't get past the "they're bugs" part of it. She went through there after the main part of the butterfly show was over so there weren't very many, but she was freaking out that one might touch her.
Judy, I'll have to check yours out. Thanks!
I love butterflies . . . I think I would just love the Garden. Looking forward to part 2.
Nina, it really is nice. Fred Meijer made a lot of money from people in this area. It's only fair that he's given a little back. :)
Hmmm, when you put it that way it sounds like a salad. i like your new profile pic. :)
Bone, I remember that indian. Yeah, that would really put a damper on the mood.
Post a Comment
<< Home