Botanical Gardens

The one thing I had planned to do in Cleveland was to tour the Botanical Gardens. From across the street we could see the glass building but had no idea it would stretch across so many acres. The kids were immersed the minute we


walked in the door when they found a HUGE cockroach upside down crying for mercy. Now, as a Texas child I've had cucarachas fly across my face at night, and I’ve stepped on enough barefoot to feel absolutely no love for these living creatures. Still, I keep these sentiments to myself, and sure enough we ended up carrying this cockroach with the broken hind leg past the docent to an outside flowerpot.


Of all the enchanting gardens, nothing could surpass the Hershey Children’s Garden. Back at home Green and I made a wee Children's Garden between our houses a few summers ago but the kids always prefered to be underfoot. It's gotten a tad wild, but I’m utterly inspired and motivated to make it really special again. The kids L O V E D this child-centric space and I also found some new plants to try like the “purple Beautyberry”.

Would you believe it only got better from there? We’re going to be on t.v.!!! Someday, maybe, sort of. Hanging out in the Madagascar Garden, a film crew showed up and invited us to participate. They’re updating their Public Relations piece on Ohio in High-definition video. The girls and I followed the Director and walked around sniffing tropical oregano with leaves the size of a bay leaf, and pointing upward to the seedpods hanging from the Great Baobab tree and touching thorny cacti. (Little Man couldn’t participate because he was donning a “I HEART NY” shirt, but he was really only interested in their equipment anyway.) I have to say we made being movie stars look easy because we were so sincerely interested in the garden to begin with. Add Madagascar to our list!