Conservatory, Brookside Gardens
Japanese Garden, Brookside Gardens
After driving down to Kensington to visit a friend briefly and drop off a couple Christmas presents we went to Brookside Gardens, a 50-acre public display garden within Wheaton Regional Park. It’s wonderful all year, of course, but we particularly like going there in the winter, because they have a greenhouse (or conservatory) that’s lush and green all year. One part of that has always been dedicated to flowering plants that are rotated throughout the year, although sadly they are no longer going to be doing that (because ‘sustainability’ which I suspect really means ‘budget cuts’). The permanent installation is nice, of course, but it was always a treat to see what was different, as well. There are two connected greenhouses and the second one had two very large model railroad displays set up (which will be there until January 6, I believe).
After spending time in both greenhouses the rain had stopped so we walked around the grounds as well, walking around the pond and onto the island with the Japanese pavilion, shown in the second photograph.