Back on Mothers’ Day Ryan and I took Julie to Botanica, the city of Wichita’s botanical gardens. It was pretty early for most flowers, but beautiful nonetheless. Botanica has a walkway that leads you through the different gardens; the Shakespeare garden is filled typical English garden flowers and with ones that he referenced in his writings, the Butterfly House wasn’t quite ready for the butterflies but was instead filled with pansies, the Woodland Walk was perfect for bird watchers, and a water-conserving Xeriscape Demonstration Garden (also see permiculture) that I took a few good ideas from for my own garden.
We particularly enjoyed the Sensory Garden. It is arranged so that you can easily touch and smell the different flowers and herbs. We smelled the parsley before we even saw it, the soft lambs ear reminded me of my childhood “softie” blanket, and the pansies are edible. This display is fantastic for kids (and adults, too)!
There are several ponds throughout the gardens; this koi pond had beautiful (and huge!) fish.
My personal favorite garden (and now desktop background) is the Wildflower Meadow. It was loaded with native Plains plants and has a beautiful statue among the flowers. We’ll have to go back and visit when the flowers are in full summer bloom.
And the best picture of all. Happy Mothers’ Day!
I think the pond with the fish may be across from or near the pond Clark fell into when we went there to take his 18 mo/easter pictures.