plant therapy

last week, my mom was visiting during her February vacation from school (the local schools only get President's Day off but she gets the whole week!). it's a wonderful chance to spend time with her apart from the chaos of our whole family get-together in the summer. last February, we took the opportunity to visit Phipps Conservatory while the girls were in school, and decided to do it again this year. the girls used to enjoy going, but now they apparently find it "boring" and "horrible" to soak up room after room of gorgeous flowers and plants, so Mom and I go by ourselves and all parties are quite happy with this arrangement. 

it was a cool, overcast day with occasional drizzle. even with cloud cover, the natural light came pouring in through the glass, and we left with a bonus inoculation of vitamin D against the dreary late winter days to come. it may always be five o'clock somewhere, but at Phipps, it's perpetually spring. 

Mom and I both upgraded our phones recently, so we had lots of fun playing with depth of field to more fully capture the beauty all around us. I refused to adjust the color saturation though -- all of these photos are unfiltered!

several of these little fairies were hidden throughout the conservatory

these plants are so hilarious to me! they remind me of little caterpillars

tortoise shell yam

more caterpillars

standing here, I was immediately transported to an English garden

so very many different shades of green!

I loved the whimsy of this little pathway, all except for the drain cover, grrr.

redvein flowering maple

I loved the curlicues of this fern, especially in contrast with the greenery

and these curlicues! nature is absolutely incredible.

a lovely way to spend the afternoon!