Monday, April 06, 2009

Conflict of interests

By coincidence, the state meetings of both the Alabama Master Gardeners and the Alabama Wildflower Society were held in Huntsville this past weekend.

I had a conflict of interests!



Actually it wasn't too bad, except for half a day on Saturday, when the AMG was winding down and the AWS was beginning.



We did not get as much time at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens as we would have liked.

This is their 115+ year old dogwood.



A trillium that doesn't know how to count. (It's supposed to have only three petals.)

A quadrillium...?



At a garden we toured, my favorite feature was this granite wall that the owner had built out of free scraps.

I didn't take my "good" camera due to forecasts for lousy weather, and of course ended up wishing I'd had it.




Especially when we hiked the Monte Sano sinks trail. I saw Squawroot for the first time...



...I didn't realize it was so big!



One night the banquet hall was late opening up, so I wandered the neighborhood and photographed enchanted medieval castles. (Or possibly it was just a backlit church with swirling clouds.)

I had a wonderful time, but boy are my feet tired.

18 comments:

  1. Nice pictures, especially the church. :)

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  2. Wow! I love the church picture especially!

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  3. your pictures are, as usual, really cool - but that church picture is awesome! i wouldn't mind having that framed...

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  4. Beautiful! I've been wanting to visit Monte Sano for a while. Maybe it'll be next in line on our State Park encounters.

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  5. Great photos. I love the castle shot. Isn't that dogwood amazing?

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  6. Any idea (or did I just miss a post) what Squawroot is used or good for? Very interesting :) Loved the photos too~

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  7. That sounds like so much fun, especially for flower lovers. Soak those feet and get ready for next year.

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  8. Great pictures, and that trillium (or quadrillium, lol) is awesome!

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  9. Would you consider guiding a tour (for pay, of course)? Your eyes, your knowledge, your wit, your language — stellar. Since discovering your blog, I have returned regularly, I the urban curmudgeon-snob with zero history of aptitude or interest in... things rural. Something you are doing here is luring me out of my mental cave, away from the asphalt and grime.

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  10. Sounds like a fine time. I would love to see the Botanical Garden sometime! They are the most fun to visit. Love your photo of the Dark Shadows castle! Are you too young to know that old TV show? gail

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  11. Great pictures, as always! So what kind of camera is the not good one??

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  12. I always enjoy your pictures, but the trillium and the church are way cool! Now would be a good time for a hike in my woods, maybe I could find some squaw root too. I wonder if finding a "quadrillium" is lucky, like a four-leaf clover? I

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  13. Lythrum, Melody, and Erika, thanks! It's kind of funny that on the garden-y flower-y weekend, this church would turn out to be the best pic. :)

    CPP, well we didn't see much else of it, so I'd love to go back too.

    Phillip, yeah, I meant to go back and get some better shots, but never managed to.

    KF, I don't know if it has any use or not. It's parasitic on roots. I just think it's cool. :)

    WLB, I always have a great time at these conferences.

    TCE, I think this one comes back that way every year -- they don't always do that.

    Tamar, I'm afraid I'd be a poor tour guide, but I'd love to walk with you some time!

    Gail, I do remember it, but I was in grammar school and my mother wouldn't let me watch it. Boo!

    Pat, thanks, the other camera is a Sony Cybershot that is technically my husband's camera.

    Thanks Lisa, yeah I'd say it was lucky!

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  14. I wonder if that is a lucky trillium.
    Mama never let us pick them (or tried to discourage us) when we were kids back in the fifties. We had them growing in some forested area of our little farm

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  15. Lately I've been absent from blog surfing. So glad I came by tonight--thoroughly enjoyed the visit and beautiful pictures.

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  16. I found your site via al.com - the blogs section. I saw that you were listed in Oneonta. We lived there not long ago and still call it 'home'.

    The photo of the 'castle' is STUNNING.

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  17. i love the picture of the dogwood!

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