Tip Toe Botanicals

So it was off to Brookside Gardens with my friend Maura who so enjoys the great outdoors and who is also a keen gardener and actively involved in land care.

It was a wonderful time to turn up at the onset of spring - a real riot of colour that I still find amazing and so-Australian! Perhaps some of these flowers would stand a better chance in New Zealand.

I've sprinkled a few Latin plant names liberally throughout this tour to indicate my fascination with names along with my botanical credentials-not. Here are some to start with.

And here is a founding founder!

They even grow libraries with lovely sculpted roof fungus!

And here is a reminder of ground friends.

Off to the Atrium and a tropical dash of colour.

I am not in Holland.

I am in the USA not Canada say these geese.

I am not in Japan.

I am in conifer country. I'd like to introduce you to Picea Pungens 'Hunnewelliana.'

And Pinus Densiflora 'Aurea'.

And one of my faves - a flowering quince called Orange Storm.

And this evocatively named Burning-Bush - a Japanese offering named 'Kosho Myumi'.

Just seeing the flowering trees and the new leaves for me was uplifting.

Thanks for joining me on my tour. Thank you Montgomery County for continuing to support such a great space. Thank you Maura for bringing me here. Vita est arcus colore. I must remember to spiritus vitae.

Eye am watching!

You have 10 seconds to guess whose eye this is? Your 10 seconds are now over! It's George Washington. On a beautiful spring day I had the good fortune to spend time with one of our visiting teacher's - Khenpo Tenzin Norgey, a visiting teaching monk, Lama Tenzin, Tashi Dawa a monk from my immediate community and moi. Khenpo wanted to introduce Lama Tenzin, who had never been to the capital before, to the American capital. However, the inner city area was blocked off due to the Nuclear Summit so we (Khenpo, Lama Tenzin, Tashi Dawa and I) found ourselves at Mt Vernon - apparently the most visited historic site in the USA. It is a beautiful place but I couldn't help but feel ghosts of the past walking between, in and around us. An extraordinary leader, George Washington was a man of his times. He was a founding father of the fledgling United States who turned out to be trickier than the British who tried to defeat him and his men (and that's saying something), and he was a generous host within societal norms, interested in architecture and design, a man of many letters - and he was a slave owner.

Here is Khenpo with George Washington's 'Valet' - Christian - who methodically provided us with information on the number of slaves George and his wife owned - 300 plus.

And here is Khenpo and Lama Tenzin with a two more historic characters - they stayed in character now matter what! Our new friends were very surprised we had come from so far away (Bhutan, India, Australia) to see them. The exception was Tashi Dawa. He came from Bethesda but they still expressed an interest in meeting him.

And now for something completely different - ablutions - which in that period were called Necessaries. I think the name should have been slightly longer - 'Absolutely Necessary'.

It was hard to know what to make of some of the exhibits.

And in between peering into dark and light places we had opportunities to be in the great outdoors on a penultimate spring day just enjoying the day and/or each other's company.

And you can see why the main house was located where it was - just a stunning view.

 And after the great outdoors there was the sometimes great indoors - which was testimony to the question - how do you capture the spirit of place and people? Apparently taxidermy and wax works helps.Here's an unasked for close-up of George Washington's waxy visage. This is the 'watching those pesky British on the Battlefield' look.

Here is a close up of his horse. I suspect this horse is saying "not my choice but here I stand."

And one of the great exhibits - with fanfare - are George Washington's false teeth -not as easy to wear or make in that day and age: clackety clack!

So thank you everyone for a fine- slightly off the wall - historic tour kind of a day with good company and wonderful weather. Lama Tenzin offered that 17th century America was not that different to 17th century elsewhere. Notwithstanding Mt Vernon's beauty it is also a place where the tendrils of the past reach out reminding me to turn around and see that history is the light and the dark and all shades in between.

Travel well Khenpo and Lama Tenzin. I'll see you on Friday Tashi Dawa!