Field Trip!

April 11, 2011

Last week Laure Ferlita and I took a field trip to the University of South Florida’s Botanical Gardens. Laure’s preparing an online class, “An Imaginary Visit to the Garden,” and I haven’t been to the gardens since last year’s trip to the spring plant festival.

The USFBG is a relaxed and friendly sort of garden. Mostly cared for by volunteers, it’s the perfect place to wander aimlessly, forgetting the world speeding by on the major streets that run on two sides of the garden. The carnivorous plants bloomed


and this lovely gentleman


presided over the meditation garden. (Unfortunately, the seating was damp and slimy-looking after the recent rains. We paid our respects and moved on.)

But of all the areas of the garden we visited, my favorite this time was:

Fairies are invisible and inaudible like angels. But their magic sparkles in nature. ~Lynn Holland

Faery (or fairy) houses, musical frogs, gnomes and fairies of all sorts peeked out from the plantings of impatiens, violas, ornamental cabbage and other magical plants.




(Check out Laure’s blog post confirming this!)

Taking a few hours to explore and unwind invigorated us both. And there’s always a little touch of magic in a garden. Who knows--maybe it’s fairy magic!

Where do you go to unwind?

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10 comments

  1. Laure FerlitaApril 11, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    Usually to Panera's. ;•)

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  2. Kathy A. JohnsonApril 11, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    Laure--You, too? (hee)

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  3. ElizabethApril 12, 2011 at 7:13 AM

    Well, I envy you both! Anyplace with flowers (and fairies) is a magical place!

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  4. Oregon Gifts of Comfort and JoyApril 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    Hi Kathy, wow, what a wonderful field trip that you gals went on!

    I would love to visit there some day, but probably won't get the chance.

    Have a wonderful, wonderful day.

    Kathy M.

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  5. Cheryl GebhartApril 12, 2011 at 2:20 PM

    I'm so jealous - sounds like you and Laure had a great time together. I love the Faery Garden - especially the frogs! Cute!!

    I often go to my sewing room to unwind.

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  6. Kathy A. JohnsonApril 12, 2011 at 3:35 PM

    Elizabeth--I bet you could have gotten some lovely pages out of our visit to the gardens.

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  7. Kathy A. JohnsonApril 12, 2011 at 3:37 PM

    Kathy--You might not get to visit the USFBG (then again you might, you never know!) but I'll bet you have some great gardens where you are. And if I know you and your camera, you'll capture one of those fairies peeking out of the foliage.

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  8. Kathy A. JohnsonApril 12, 2011 at 3:37 PM

    Cheryl--Wish you could have been with us. I know you would have enjoyed it.

    A sewing room sounds like a great place to unwind.

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  9. TeresaApril 14, 2011 at 10:40 AM

    Sounds like a heavenly place to lose yourself in!

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  10. Kathy A. JohnsonApril 14, 2011 at 12:36 PM

    It was pretty nice, Teresa. A definite change of pace.

    ReplyDelete