Indian blanketflower

I think these were Japanese cherry blossoms. It seemed weird that they were blooming in late December in Atlanta but up until the weekend before Christmas it had been warm there.

Roses were still blooming.

Bees still buzzing around.

This was tagged as a slipper orchid because the inside looks like a shoe.

The orchid house was full of orchids but it was muggy inside and my lens kept fogging up.

Close up.

I dragged my sister over to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens the weekend before Christmas. She drove over for the day from Birmingham. After hitting a mall and having lunch, it was too nice outside not to go for a walk. It was freezing early in the morning (by my standards). High was only 48. But it warmed up in the sun and we had a great walk. She knew way more of the plants than I did. She was calling out the names of so many of the plants. The gardens were still in bloom since it had been warm. The frogs were hiding in the warm water so we didn’t see any of them. A few birds were hanging around. More on those later. After a long stop at the farmer’s market, she headed home and I headed back to the in-laws. Perfect first day of the short holiday vacation.