It seems only yesterday that I was on the cusp of Thanksgiving, wondering how summer had become but a memory. Now the winter solstice is here, with Christmas and a New Year looming.
The obvious question is this: where did Autumn go?
At the back of my mind is something more elemental.
How do I slow down the passage of time?
Well, this is embarrassing. My last blog post was on August 14: bees hard at work in the blazing sun. Now it’s Thanksgiving. The trees are mostly bare, the ground is mostly covered with leaves. Chilly winds whip dark clouds across the sky, easing from time to time to let woodsmoke tickle the nose. Life is full of turkey anticipation, apple cider wishes, and pumpkin-spice everything. I have just one question:
Where the heck did Summer go?
Deep into the summer, flowers are blooming everywhere. Flowers attract bugs, and bugs attract my camera. As I do every year, I’ve dug out my macro lens and gone tromping through fields and meadows in search of small flying insects to photograph.
Today’s collection features our bee friends, and some other friends that look similar to bees but aren’t.
A melody drifts over the meadows, to the accompaniment of cicadas and crickets and birdsong. The tune is deep purple and golden, and it calls to the small creatures of the air with a silken voice: “Come to me! Feed on my rich nectar while you may!” The little aerialists are happy to oblige, raising their voices in sweet harmony to the music of the wildflowers until all the world is ablaze with the Song of September.
BUZZ BIXBY: Good Morning and Happy Harvest to you! 
Welcome to Critter Radio’s broadcast of the 73rd Annual Harvest Festival Pollinator Parade, right here on 99.9 KRTR!
I’m Buzz Bixby…
CECILY SWALLOWTAIL: … and I’m Cecily Swallowtail…
BUZZ BIXBY: …and we’re your hosts for this wonderful panorama of floats, performers, balloons and marching bands, all celebrating pollinating insects and their buggy friends. It’s a beautiful day for a parade… Continue reading
The Conservatory at Longwood Gardens is a welcome respite from the dark and dreary days of winter. Outside the landscaped grounds are cold, bleak and brown. Step indoors and we are welcomed with warmth and color.
Beautiful flowers are everywhere. Some dangle in delicate shades of blush…
While others offer a brighter palette.
Past the Main Conservatory and the Exhibition Hall, the Silver Garden and the Banana House, each step deeper into the labyrinth of corridors and rooms reveals ever more exotic plants. Bird of Paradise.
Round the bend and we are met with a shaft of sunlight illuminating some unusual leaves. Ram’s Horn Croton.
Walking into the Fern Passage brings us among some truly weird and wonderful plants. Look up! See the intricate pattern made from the spore-dotted fronds of the Australian Tree fern that towers over your head.
Turn another direction, and we find ourselves face to face with suspended carnivorous pitcher plants. Smaller ones share a planter with tiny Venus Flytraps.
Wait – our favorite plants seem to be missing. Where are the club mosses? This is Longwood Gardens; they simply have to be here.
And they are. In fact, we were looking right at them. A helpful staff botanist is happy to show us what we missed.
Not mosses at all, club mosses are vascular plants. We are familiar with Lycopodium, which resembles a teeny tiny Christmas tree, but on this Christmas day, we are introduced to Huperzia, sometimes known as fir moss.
These particular Huperzia are called Tassel Ferns.
Passing through the Cascade Garden, we find ourselves in the Rose Alley, which speaks to us of both spring gardens and tropical climes. Water droplets glisten on colorful hibiscus.
Outside it is cold and windy, but inside the Conservatory of Longwood Gardens winter dreams blossom into weird and wonderful life.
Christmas morning at Longwood Gardens
As the year comes to a close, our souls protest the darkness of the oncoming winter. We must have light! Little wonder that many of our varied holiday traditions glow with strings of twinkling bulbs and shiny baubles.
On a cold, dark night, the holiday displays at Longwood Gardens are a particular delight for the eyes and the heart.
On entering the Main Conservatory, visitors are greeted with a towering tree trimmed in glass, glitter and feathers. White flowers and greenery line the dark pools and fountains.
Treasures of Christmas Past adorn a stair hall.
A child’s whimsical interpretation of Rudolph.
In the Orangery, the trees bear both fruit and delicately woven ornaments.
Oh, look! Here is a table is set for a festive holiday wedding! Polished silver and sparkling crystal gleam among the flowers and gifts in red and white.
When the sun sets, Longwood Gardens really shines. Lights twinkle from luminous trees everywhere you turn. Even a new moon adds its radiance to the festivities.
The Conservatory, aglow from within and without.
In this season of light in the darkness, I wish for a world without war, famine, poverty and pollution; a world where every creature has a healthy and protected home; a world where all people live in peace and prosperity.
Whatever your traditions may be at this holiday season, I wish for you good friends, good food, and good cheer!
The Wild Edge will return in early January. A Snowy Day!
Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher. – William Wordsworth
The Wild Edge 