Disturbingly Informative

"Disturbingly Informative", that's the motto of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. And it is pretty much spot on, as it houses a collection medical oddities and curiosities.

A small museum, an hour or two is enough to see it all. Alas, most is off limits to photography, although the reason given, respect for the humans whose remains are on display, rings a bit hollow. They are on display after all (and the Museum charges to see them; draw your own conclusion).

Photography was permitted in the main entrance hall and the Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden.

I like the second paragraph, "We request that you do not pick or eat any part of any plant in the garden." I wonder if they were having issues with visitors munching away?

"Hey Alice, try some of this Franklinia, it's delicious!"

(That's what the deer said about ours.)

I was not aware of the medicinal properties of Sarracenia (I wonder if they're permitted to eat the visitors?). Learned something new perhaps?

☣️  ☣️  ☣️  ☣️  ☣️

It was poison that brought us to the Museum. Science on Tap (motto: "eat. drink. science." I'm in!) was hosting an untapped event, "Science On Tap Untapped: Pick Your Poison".

This was the second thing I learned at the Mütter, if you bite something and die, that something was poisonous. If something bites you and you die, that something was venomous. Some very evil creatures are both!

You've been warned.

Tinicum

Or more specifically, the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum.

We had planned to visit Mother's Day morning, meeting our friends Rachel and Adam (last see in this post). Alas, it was a very rainy day so we rescheduled for this past Wednesday evening.

You can see Adam's excellent images of the event here, A Good Walk Spoiled (go look!). I think the title refers to his new found interest in bird photography. Because while Patty and Rachel made it all the way around the main trail, Adam and I, stopping to photograph every bird we saw, didn't make it a quarter of the way.

Adam also has a photography exhibit at the Headhouse Cafe in Philadelphia. Go, enjoy some delicious sushi, and buy a print!

Patty, who subscribes to every bird alert service in the area, arrived first and texted me that a Sora was being seen at the boardwalk. Thus when I arrived she sent me off to find it while she waited for Adam and Rachel.

So off I went. It took awhile, but eventually I spotted it.

See it there in the reeds? Yep, that's how one usually sees them. They are a bit secretive. But sometimes ...

... they come out into the open ...

... and even come close.

While on the boardwalk I also saw some Barn Swallows.

And Painted Turtles, which pretty much all over the place.

And a pair of Mute Swans.

But the bird that stole the show was ...

... this fishing Osprey.

Hovering and flying seemingly for our enjoyment.

Continuing on we saw a number of good birds, including this Baltimore Oriole, upon which spotting Adam cried out, "Look at that colorful one!".

There were multiple Yellow Warblers along the trail.

And a lone Cedar Waxwing. Odd, as they are usually found in groups.

Further out we spotted a Great Egret.

And a female Wood Duck.

Multiple people told us that there were Wood Duck chicks, very small perhaps only days old. But the only chicks we saw were these muddy Mallards.

It was a very nice way to spend an evening. Although it did rain briefly on our way back to our cars.

Completing the Set

I've blogged about the Philadelphia Flower Shows that Patty and I have visited here (2019) and here (2017) and here (2016).

My OCD forces me to complete the set with this post about the 2018 show.

The theme was water.

And the main exhibits made good use of it. There was a rainforest.

And a rather difficult to photograph Rube Goldberg-ish waterfall.

I'm not really sure what was up with the Stargate, and how it related to the water theme. It was cool though, and would make a great entryway to our gardens (and if we could configure it to teleport deer far away ... ).

I don't know if this miniature won a price. And I didn't record the artist's name. But it does involve water. And optics. So you knew I'd like it.

I don't know why, but this one made me think of my friend Terry, perhaps the artsiest of my plant geek friends.

And this one is for all my plant geek friends, but especially Russell.

Each year there seems to be an out of place exhibit. For the 2019 show it was the beehive. For this show it was an exhibit on diatoms. Cool and I guess related to water. But flowers?

For 2019 we had the curious camper. In 2018 we got a boat. At least the camper had some flowers in it.

And this was a nice variation on the theme, stressing the importance of water. When Patty and I retire to Arizona we'll no doubt have a garden like this.

I'm not sure what this implies about the intelligence of the show visitors.

Finally, this one doesn't really have anything to do with the flower show. More with the infrastructure of the hosting space. But the curious colors caught my eye.

🌸  🌻  🦚  🌵  💧  🌷  🌹  🌺  🌼

The show was much more impressive than my photos might lead you to believe. Most of my shots were disappointing. Not even 'blog worthy'. Too many people in them, bad angles, harsh light, reflections (especially plaguing the miniatures). Argh.

More Flowers

The 2016 Philadelphia Flower Show was the first for Patty and I as a couple. The theme was National Parks, as 2016 was the hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service.

And unlike this year's show, the theme was obvious throughout.

And there seemed to be more flowers. I know right, flowers at a flower show. Go figure.

Much more colorful than this year, but not as much as the 2017 show.

Perhaps the best exhibit was that for Yellowstone.

Although they should have had a working geyser methinks.

Boomtown Bear by Emily White

I forget which park the bear was in (maybe someone's garden now as it was for available for purchase).

National Park was interpreted somewhat liberally, as seen here ...

... in an exhibit of where I live. No, not the house; obviously that's home to the Jersey Devil. Rather the Pinelands National Reserve. Of which our home is at the western edge, just inside the Reserve.

Or here, with this house that was for a National Historic Site, if I recall correctly.

Speaking of taking liberties ...

I've been in several caves, both national and state parks, and I've yet to see flowers in one.

I'm not sure what these next two were going for.

But they did catch my eye.

This was the year of the Death Valley Super-Bloom.

I'm not sure that the folks who put together this exhibit had actually seen it. Nor the judges that gave it gold and blue prize ribbons.

Not our house either.

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I forget what started us thinking about going to the flower show. Probably we wanted a bit of color during winter. And when we looked into it it made sense to become PHS members. So we joined. And then the super bloom happened and we jetted off to Death Valley. So the show was a bit of pale imitation to the real thing.

Not unlike the super-bloom exhibit.

Weekend Wanderings ... Philadelphia Flower Show

It's March. That means it is time for the Philadelphia Flower Show. And our annual Saturday morning pilgramage into the city.

This year's theme was "Flower Power" and I, in no little part due to marketing done for the show, was expecting a 1960's vibe. As were the folks in line along with us waiting to enter.

And that expectation was met right off the bat with this colorful interpretation of the Philadelphia Love statue.

And a Flower Power truck.

But the theme was not evident in all of the displays, some of which seemed to be generic gardens. And other displays interpreted "Flower Power" in different ways, as we'll see.

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As is our custom, we head for the miniatures first, to beat the lines. This one, which I call Crazy Cat Lady, is hopefully not a foreshadowing of things to come.

Artist Quiqun Chen

Next were the pressed flower mosaics, the theme this year was "The Long and Winding Road". This one was my favorite. I like the firefly-clouds. But overall they did not seem as intricate as in prior years. Perhaps I'm just become inured to the work needed and thus not as impressed as before?

The miniatures and flower mosaics are competitive, with different divisions from grade school kids to adults. And we, along with others, had fun making fun of the judges comments.

One of the other competitive endeavors was floral hats, of which this was a fan favorite, based on the number of folks, obviously including yours truly, taking photos.

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New this year was an exhibit of botanical illustration, a style of art I enjoy. These were two I particularly liked.

Death Cap Mushroom, Deborah Jones

Common Milkweed Pod, Carol Ashton-Hergenhan

Curiously, there was a price list, something else new.

🌷 🐝  🥀 🐝 🌹

Next we came upon a beehive. And while the connection between bees and pollination, and thus flowers, is well known, this seemed oddly out of place. Somewhat isolated form the rest of the show and without a clear connection to the overall theme. Yes odd.

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Next up we visited the main exhibit area, with the large displays. Which this year did not seem as large or as numerous as in the past.

This was an interesting exhibit that tried to emulated a kaleidoscope. Mirrors around the edge and a floating spinning raft of flowers. Very psychedelic. And difficult to photograph.

These next two images are part of one exhibit.

There were other sections as well (I didn't notice at the time, but the colors may have been in rainbow order).

I'm not quite sure what they were going for here. What's with the paper plates (someone thought they might be shelf fungi)?

At least those two seemed to be trying to embrace the show theme.

This was a nice enough exhibit, and gave us some ideas for our gardens, but it seemed rather generic.

And it was bordered by wood piles.

And it is not clear if the sign is suggesting that we stand on it.

Another nice garden that gave us ideas.

The info stated that flowers had the power to heal and recharge one. An interesting interpretation of the theme. And one repeated at other displays throughout.

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One reason the main display area seemed smaller this year is that a large portion of it was taken up by something dubbed the "World Cup of Floral Arrangements" with contestants from around the world completing for something. But the displays were not ready when we arrived, with the exhibitors/competitors still assembling, as shown above [Update: This may be by design (pun!) as the competition continues with new arrangements throughout the show]. They were still at it when we left around eleven as the crowds began to swell (as members we can get in a eight, prior to general admission). And while there were a couple of intriguing items, this isn't something that holds my interest.

This is much more impressive in person, as it spirals inward.

And I liked how this one seems sparse and busy at the same time.

Note the blue crate visible in each image, evidence that they hadn't finished and cleaned up.

🌷  🎛  🥀  🎛  🌹

Now this is something right out of the sixties.

That is an analog oscilloscope hooked up to plant leaves. And it is getting a signal. The signal was pumped through a synthesizer, as can be seen and heard in this linked video. I have albums from the sixties that sound like this.

🌷  ⛺️  🥀  ⛺️  🌹

I'm not sure what this one was about.

This is the interior of a camper, note the interesting take on vinyl flooring (broken LP's). And I guess there are some flowers in there.

And this is the exterior. I really don't know how this fits into a flower show. But there it was.

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This one was another variation on the "Flower Power" theme, this time on the power of plants to reclaim and recycle. Something seen throughout the Pinelands I call home, as time and forest remove the traces of earlier inhabitants.

🌷  🛍  🥀  🛍  🌹

No visit to the flower show is complete without a tour of the vendor area. And we made a few purchases.

And I have come to enjoy this perennial which continues to confuse me.

How do they get ferns to flower? And how can they be new every year?

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One the way out we toured the individual plant area, where members enter plants in a plethora of different categories. One thing that I noticed was the increasing number of carnivorous plants being exhibited. Very cool (and my purchase at the show were two sundews, Dorsera filiformis and D. intermedia, for my bog garden).

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We ended our time in Philly with delicious lunch at Hiro Ramen. Very yummy!

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As always, a very enjoyable way to spend a morning in the city.

And now spring can't get here soon enough.