Hi All,
Today was our first of two days in the Washington DC area. We spent most of the day at the National Botanical Gardens. If you have ever visited the US Capitol building and wondered what the huge greenhouse structure to the right was, that's the Botanical Gardens.
This tulip in a bed of normal shaped flowers was pretty unusual.
There was a special orchid exhibit this week so, in addition to seeing lots of beautiful flowers, we learned a lot about orchids. We did not record the names of these beauties.
We learned that orchids are the largest family of flowering plants with over 25,000 naturally occurring species.
Many orchids co-evolved with specific pollinators and can only be pollinated by a particular species of bee, wasp or bird.
If you thought Charles Darwin sat around idly after publishing, "On the Origin of the Species", you'd be wrong. Three years later he published,"Fertilization of Orchids" which led to widespread cross fertilization and creation of new orchid species. There are now about 110,000 recognized species!
Each one seems more beautiful than the last. The diverse shapes, colors and patterns are astounding.
In the evening we visited with Sandy's Aunt Lillian and her daughter Ann followed by dinner with Ann, her husband Maurice and her two sisters Susan and Roberta. It was fun to catch up and swap family stories.
Love,
Sandy & Carl
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
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