Botanical Wanderings

 

Spring is one of the most lively times to visit the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The azaleas and flowering trees typically are in bloom and the whole place is abuzz with pollinators. After missing the height of the season's show last year, I'm glad I recently took the opportunity to stop by and roam the gardens' meandering paths from its greenhouse conservatory to the Japanese Gardens.

Although I grew up in Birmingham and moved back about 12 years ago, every visit brings new discoveries. Returning also evokes a multitude of memories from different stages of my life: childhood, college, young adulthood and recent years. The garden even helped set my relationship to my husband in motion. It was the first place we met after crossing paths hiking. Our garden visit was supposed to be just a friendly get together for some photography, but it definitely played a role in the beginning of our romance.

As I walked in recently, a tiny bee on a tree blossom welcomed me to the glory of the gardens. It patiently waited as I photographed and stared in wonder. The bee was likely just preoccupied with the pollen. Still, I was grateful it kept working diligently, allowing me to study and capture its movements. The bee was the first of many pollinators of various types and sizes I spied and heard among the flowers.

As bees have been waning in number globally, it was reassuring to see them in abundance at the gardens. My husband and I will soon be hanging out baskets of pentas, hardy sun-loving flowering plants that bees, butterflies and hummingbirds will feed off all summer. We are trying to give the birds and the bees a bit more habitat than they would otherwise have. It feels good to create a small wildlife sanctuary in your own backyard.

After my visit with the bee, I headed straight for the conservatory, which has both comforting and exciting associations for me. During the cold months while I was a college student on a tight budget, it offered me a needed nature boost in an ever-warm environment. I often lingered at length, enjoying the warmth, diffused light, and plant-filtered air.

Thrilled by the numerous exotic tropical species, including palms, bromeliads and ferns, I daydreamed I was in some jungle. The origins of the plants were listed, and I imagined what the plants would look like in those places. Little did I know that I would live in Florida where tropical species thrive, or that I would see some of the flora in its natural habitat. 

Even so, my memories of the conservatory will always hold a sense of wonder for me. The greenhouse closed for several years for major repairs, and after it reopened, the new plants took several years to fill out and grow high enough to again create that jungle feeling. I was grateful for my memories while I waited for the conservatory's come back.

Now that I'm back in Alabama, I try to keep a bit of the tropics at home with me. Thanks to grow lights my husband and I are able to keep bromeliads and orchids living through the winter to take them out again in spring. Ferns of various types are among our favorite house plants.

Even so, the botanical gardens will always hold its own allure. In my mind's eye, the conservatory will always be my own private jungle from college days. And when the cherry, plum and other flowering trees are in bloom, I will always long to wander the sinuous stone paths of the Japanese Gardens.

Photos by Kathy Hagood