Journaling Outside the Book: Cleveland Botanical Gardens

Photo Journal of "Orchid Mania"


Sometimes you have to get out of the journal and "feed the well".  That's exactly what Ro and I did today!  We headed into Cleveland for the last weekend of "Orchid Mania" at Cleveland Botanical Gardens.  I took 195 pictures!  I deleted about 10 of them and found the best 20 to share with you.  It was a painful process - I would love to show you more but you can't wait all night for the images to load!


Here are some of my favorite orchid pictures:

My personal pick for "Best of Show"

Even as cold as it was, we had to venture outside to have a look around.  We made a pact to return after the weather warms, but there were still plenty of things to amuse and delight us.

An Incredible metal fence and gate

Mystery seed pods 

A stone sculpture - she's beautiful

Girls just want to have fun - even when it's only 30 degrees!

Not only did we have orchid mania, we also had bird and butterfly mania as an added bonus.  These colorful little birds were just a bit larger than hummingbirds.  I was entranced and spent nearly an hour trying to get some good shots.  The butterflies were too elusive, but I think my patience paid off with the birds. 

We had a wonderful time at the gardens, and once we left were eager to get something to eat as neither of us had the good sense to eat breakfast. We stopped at Red Robin for burgers and fries on the way home.  I didn't take pictures there.  No one needs to see that food frenzy!


I hope you enjoyed sharing our trip to "Orchid Mania", and I hope that if you have a botanical garden or arboretum nearby that you'll treat yourself to an outing there.   No one does art quite like Mother Nature.

Ro - a little "matchy, matchy", don't you think?

 I think I found a lot of material to "feed the well".  I'm sure you'll be seeing orchids and these colorful birds showing up in my art journal pages! Have a terrific weekend, and most of all, "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"