Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas from The Mitchell Park Domes!


Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a fun time celebrating today. I'm going to share some photos with you from The Mitchell Park Domes. The Domes contain a warm environment where even tropical and desert plants can grow. At Christmas, some of the plants are decorated and there is a themed display. This year's theme was Hawaiian Tiki. This is what The Domes look like from outside:


We started in the tropical dome. There were all kinds of plants I wasn't familiar with in there. It was pretty fun since I haven't seen any lush, green plants for months.


I was calling this the Q-Tip plant but I think it had the word Starburst in its name.


This cool frog was peeking out of the pond in the middle of the dome.


This is a Staghorn Fern. It looks like antlers on a wall.


Next we went to the desert environment. That was my favorite dome. There were all kinds of "critters" in with the desert plants. I'm glad none of these were real.


I thought it would have been cute if they had put a little Santa hat on the snake.



An abandoned boot:


This is a close-up of a furry cactus. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I knew better. There are some spikes hiding under that fur.


I don't know what this is, but it's awesome!


The cacti were dressed up for Christmas.


This little tree is a Jade Plant.


An Aloe Plant:


The Fan Palm Tree:


The Dragon Blood Tree:


There is a dark resin in this tree that looks very blood-like. Do an image search for it, and you too can be grossed out!


I'm not sure what this is...


This looks like a desert Poinsettia to me.


The last dome had the Hawaii themed decorations.


An old enlarged photo showing how the domes once looked.


Some cool, two-toned Poinsettias.


A Tiki figure and some Tiki Torches:


The tree had little Tikis on it. You can see what the curved glass walls look like from inside the dome.


There was a winding stream running through the room.


A bit of the curving old lamp that I'm assuming went with the original domes.


Here's more of the lamp. You guys know I love stuff like this!


Baby pineapples:


A Bird of Paradise:


I hope you guys enjoyed these photos! It was fun getting to experience some living plants at this time of year.

I was going to post a recording of myself reading some Christmas poetry, but I am unfortunately sick. I was hoping that I would somehow be better by this evening, but no. I know that no one wants to hear a congested person reading poetry, so I think I'm going to post a reading for New Year's instead. I'll save the Christmas poem I was sent and read it then along with anything New Year's themed I can find.

Have a great rest of the holiday!

15 comments:

  1. a beautiful post dear Lady... and we hope that you and yours had a great Christmas....
    We normally view mostly just "horror" images... we did really enjoy your set of photos in this post... actually left us with a bit of a "warm" feeling inside (very unusual for us....) Thank you for sharing these uplifting "Winter" images with us viewers...

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    1. Dr. Theda ~ Glad you enjoyed these Christmas photos. It is a warm and inviting place to visit, especially in winter!

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  2. That's a beautiful garden, it looks like desert plants. I'm shocked that there is no snow for Christmas! So it doesn't always snow for Christmas? I hope you feel better. Cute picture with the frog, Santa's hat, and the purple jacket!

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    1. Matt ~ I think we were all shocked that there was no snow for Christmas! It's nice to have a little snow on the ground at this time, but I'm not really complaining. It's a lot easier to not have to shovel or drive through the stuff. We usually get a lot of snow! Thanks, I hope I feel better soon too. Yeah, I had to get a picture with Santa Frog. :) It's been fun having him dressed up and sitting around through another holiday.

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  3. Where are the domes? I seem to remember visiting a place a lot like this as a kid.

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    1. Goneferal ~ The Domes are at this address:

      524 South Layton Boulevard, Milwaukee, WI 53215

      So you can google map them and see just where they are! Were you living in Milwaukee as a kid? I don't know why, but I thought I remembered you saying you grew up in Illinois.

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  4. What a lovely place - I admire their creative use of ornaments.

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    1. Lady M ~ Me too! Who would think to dress up a cactus, or an aloe plant? Just a few little ornaments were an unexpected surprise. I really liked the Mexican tin ornaments.

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    2. Beautiful photos. Reminds me of the Eden Project here in England.

      Merry Christmas!

      Ali

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    3. Ali ~ Thank you! :) I looked up the Eden Project and I can definitely see what you mean. There's a comparison with the dome shapes, the rainforest climate, and the Christmas theme. It looks like there are some neat Christmas activities held here. I'm watching videos on their YouTube channel now. It looks really cool in there at night! Do you go there a lot? A belated Merry Christmas to you too! :)

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  5. Belated Merry Christmas Justine! I can honestly say I've never seen anything like these domes. You always find the most amazing places to explore! Hope Santa brought you those things you desire and wishing you good health and fortune for the New Year!

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    1. Mark ~ A belated Merry Christmas to you too! I wonder how many domes like these are out there. I might have even thought these were the only domes, except Alison pointed me to The Eden Project. The Domes are a neat way to house tropical and desert environments that you just can't find otherwise in Wisconsin. People might grow tropical plants or a cactus in a pot here, but to see this many tropical/desert plants in winter is a real treat.

      Thanks! I like to visit as many unique places as possible. There are all kinds of different places and events to see around here once you start looking! Searching out these things is a fun way to stay entertained.

      Thank you for the kind Christmas wishes! I wish you good health and fortune in the New Year as well! :)

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  6. Beautiful! I have seen lots of decorated cacti around here and love it. Happy New Year to you!!

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    1. Julie ~ Thank you! I thought of you when I saw the decorated cacti and wondered if you'd seen any desert plants dressed up this way. I noticed what I thought was an aloe plant in that Christmas light display video you posted. The decorated desert plants were an unexpected surprise for me!

      Happy New Year to you too! :)

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