When we were planning our trip back to Iowa to celebrate my Grandpa Baker’s 90th birthday, I planned to arrive a bit earlier in the week so we could get some time with my Grandma Jensen as well and go to the butterfly house with her. When we went to Butterfly World with her in Florida, she said she wanted to bring us to the one near her home next time we visited. (With how much Bracken loves butterflies, everywhere we travel visiting the butterfly houses is a must. My friend told me there is one in Oregon, which we will definitely be visiting.) We arrived so late on Wednesday night and didn’t get to sleep until after 2 am, so we slept in the next morning before we headed over to Reiman Gardens.
Reiman Gardens is a place my grandparents used to bring my sister and I when we were young. It’s changed so much since then. It had a beautiful outdoor garden back then, but now it also has indoor gardens. (Which they refer to on their site as an indoor tropical oasis, that’s exactly what it feels like.) We went to the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing first. There is something about a room full of butterflies that makes me feel… giddy. People walk into the room and can’t help but smile. It’s an amazing feeling to have so many butterflies all around you.
There was a tree that had grapes growing on it, rather than on a vine like I’m used to seeing, which was the first time I had ever heard of that. Bracken noticed that the pods hanging down from the mimosa tree looked just like peas, and Jeff later told me they are related. We loved seeing all the different kinds of butterflies. There was one with one large circle on the outside of each of it’s wings that they called an Owl butterfly. When it opened it’s wings, it was bright blue inside. We saw similar ones in Florida. When their wings were closed they blended in and you could hardly see them and when their wings were open, you could spot the brilliant blue from far away.
After we saw the room full of butterflies, we went to the conservatory. It was such a beautiful space filled with bright colored flowers, and felt so peaceful. There were orchids everywhere and we joked about sending my mom a picture saying “Look! Your favorite flower!” (She’s never been able to keep an orchid alive so whenever anyone gives her an orchid for a gift she thinks ‘Oh no! Not another orchid!’, sometimes referring to them as stupid orchids, and we crack jokes about it.) When we walked into the indoor gardens it was like walking into another world, I told my grandma that it would be the perfect place for her to visit in the middle of winter when she felt tired of the snow. Visiting the Reiman Gardens was a wonderful way to start off our trip!
that tree with the “grapes” is a jaboticaba tree. they are yummy and you can make jelly and stuff just like grapes, but the flavor is a bit different.
Orchids flower and then die back. your mom does not kill them. they mostly look dead and then they come back to life and bloom again. my husband taught me this since he is the green thumb and i am the brown thumb. Just hang the pot in a tree and leave it be. It will come back and bloom.
Thanks for letting us know! I have zero experience with orchids, so appreciate the info and will pass it along. 🙂
We have Meijer Botanical Gardens here and we also have butterflies! They are so much fun aren’t they? And yes, we go in the winter to escape the snow *bleh*
I love that you share the photos of your trips! What a treat! Visiting a Butterfly sanctuary would be fascinating! There are certainly some beautiful colored butterflies!
Blessings,
Kris in WA
Your grandma’s smile and Bracken’s smile are exactly the same – size, shape, lips, and happy factor! You could photoshop their smiles onto each other’s face and it would still look the same. So cute.
Owl butterflies have the perfect predator weapon. When their wings are spread, the spots look like owl eyes and scare the bad guys away.
(I ignore our orchids and they bloom all the time. We first watered and misted and fussed, to no avail. Now they get watered every two or three weeks, rarely misted = thriving. I have those reservoir-at-the-bottom, no drain-hole type pots. Sunny south window with filtered light. They seem very happy. Haven’t moved them in years.)
Welcome home.
Hi, Taryn
Tell you mum that the trick to growing orchids is to find a good spot for them and then *not move them*.
Best of luck!