Must Catch Up! -- Sun., Apr. 14

No blog for the A-to-Z Challenge on Sunday. I can catch up on what else we've been doing.

Friday afternoon I went solo to the San Antonio Botanical Garden. As I was arriving, five busloads of elementary school kids were exiting to their buses. Whew! Dodged that bullet. Also, a big luncheon had finished up and all the ladies were leaving. The botanical gardens were mine, all mine. Well, not really but there were very few people there. I spent 1-1/2 hours in bliss, then I drove to meet Bob to see "Life of Pi." (See my review here.) More bliss.

My last visit to the botanic gardens was in September 2012. To see the gardens in springtime was a  high priority for me. Today I made the most of my hour and a half.

My favorite displays are: the Old-Fashioned Garden, East Texas Pineywoods, and the Cactus and Succulent Garden.

Gertie's Garden greets you when you enter the grounds.

Foxglove (from which the drug digitalis is derived).

Delphinium.

The purple martins have set up house and are in residence...

Purple martin condos.

Old-Fashioned Garden photos:

Display garden

Lilies

"Magic Fountains," Delphinium, buttercup family

Blue sage, Salvia farinacea, mint family

Snapdragon

Poppy

Columbine

Iris

Yellow prickly poppy

Shrimp plant

Sacred Garden:

Amaryllis

Papyrus

Aloe flowers

Water Saver Garden (cottage landscaping):

Trumpet flower

 Texas Hill Country:

Anacacho Orchid Tree (Bauhinia lunaroides)

Sunflowers

Pecan tree

Chinquapin Oak (see sign below)

 
East Texas Pineywoods:

Sycamore (American Plane-Tree)

11 turtles sunning

Trail around the lake.

Cute little bugger.

Oxalis

The lake at San Antonio Botanical Garden

One content squirrel!

Trail in East Texas Pineywoods

Bird photos:

Great-tailed grackle with tail fanned out.

Purple martins.

Endangered Plants (South Texas Brush Country)

Ashy dogweed

Zapata bladderpod

 South Texas:

Texas bindweed

Cactus and Succulent Garden:

Cactus with alien-looking blooms

Claret cup cacti

Horse crippler cactus

Gopher plant.

Desert gardenscape

Beaked yucca

Golden barrel cactus.

Students from local schools have a huge garden area that they planted and tend to. I was amazed by the artichokes. Wow!

There were hundreds of artichokes in the 30 ft. row.

By this point in the day, my time was rapidly diminishing. On my way out of the garden, I snapped a few more photos.

Lily pond from elevated walkway.

Through the wisteria arbor

Potted flowers

Poppies

With that, I was out the gate, hopped in my car and made it to the movie theater just in time for "Life of Pi."

Travel Bug flower girl out.