Auckland Botanic Gardens

The weather was perfect this Saturday, so Sam and I hit up the Botanic Gardens.  The orchid show on site was a happy surprise and led to me taking more flower pictures than I should have.  I can't help but be inspired by their alien shapes, succulent texture and vivid colors!  Below is a small sampling of the photos I took, with more on my flickr page here.

They have a whole area devoted to threatened species, and the placards next to some specimens stated that they were grown from cuttings from the last remaining plant of its kind found in the wild, in an effort to save it.

One such threatened plant, the Kumarahou.  Ants are this plant's seed spreaders!

We didn't finish exploring the Gardens, because we decided to save some for another day. When you enter the garden, you drive under a tunnel of vines which are currently dormant for the winter. I noticed the placard says, "Wisteria," so I'm sure it will be a beautiful sight when we return and they're in bloom.

I have been experimenting with making photos look vintage.  I call this one "vintage creeper."

I'm so glad we went when we did, because it's rainy today and the weather forecast says we have a few more days of rain ahead of us. Sam and I are going to spend the day planning our road trip once he's finished cuddling Karmin on the sofa. Olive gave us the weekend off as a treat, but I'm thinking of doing a little work after all, so I can have a day off when the weather is nicer. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!