Chicago Botanic Gardens
Hey Steemians. So despite my always present urge need to find a way to work for myself, I have to say that I do love my company and the awesome people I work with. Thanks to them I was able to spend my workday volunteering at the Chicago Botanic Gardens instead of sitting at my desk all day!
Every year my company sponsors our own World Environment Week focused on cleaning up the environment in some way, and this Botanic Garden volunteer day is a big part of it. Not only do we help keep the gardens clean by weeding planters, pruning old growth, and planting new seedlings; but we help with conserving plants for the future through their seed bank initiative.
One of the most amazing things about the Chicago Botanic Garden is how much focus is put on educating people about the environment, horticulture, plant morphology, and every other topic you could think of related to plants. They have even built a new learning center to further this goal to encourage kids to get outside and be involved with the environment.
The Gardens
Unfortunately, it was raining a majority of the time we were there today, so I wasn't able to walk around as much as I had hoped, and outside the photo above, most of the photos I took were of plants inside the greenhouse. The best time to see anything bloom in the greenhouses is January through March so there wasn't too much going on, but I did get these pics below.
I will definitely be heading back here as soon as I can, one of the new exhibits that they have put together is focused on Brazilian plants. Brazil is one of the most biodiverse places on our planet and the plants are a perfect teaching tool to show how amazing our environment is. I'm also hoping that they will have a couple of their Corpse Flowers in bloom!
Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures. Stay tuned for a follow-up post with pictures from the butterfly exhibit, there are some amazing pics I was able to capture!
Bonus pic of me and my coworkers finally getting inside after being rained on for an hour while weeding.
