Merry Mixup December 2015 Warm Weather's Effect on Plants

 This December on Long Island, the weather has been unusually mild.  As a result the flowering shrubs and bulbs are mixed up!  They are sending out blooms and growth several months too early.  This is a Winter Jasmine flowering plant. 

 A beautiful Sky Blue Vinca blossom.

 Peach colored Japonica flowers.

 The next year's buds for the Montauk Daisey.

A male Holly

Mint leaves coming up in the Blueberry Box.

 Grape Hyacinth leaves popping out.

 A Raspberry!

 Cat Mint flowers in a planter box.

A new shoot for a Day Lily plant.

 My favorite late blooming Chrysanthemum, but this is really late.

The new plants at the base of each stem for that Chrysanthemum.

 Snow Drops shooting up.

 A Yucca which never looked this good all summer.

 Ferns around the White Walnut tree.

 Hydrangea buds showing up too early.

 One of the Knock Out Roses trying to bloom.

 I tip over planter pots for the winter months, so that the contents and pots don't freeze.  But the plants continue to grow.

 A remarkable photo of one of my Bridal Wreath shrubs.

 A purple bloom on a perennial.   What will happen to these plants come Spring.  I guess that I will have to wait, but after the last two really snowy and cold winters this is a gift!

Theodore Roosevelt Sculpture at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC

On my bucket list for last year was a trip into NYC to the American Museum of Natural History to see and sit next to the very realistic bronze sculpture of Long Island's own past United States President, Theodore Roosevelt.

The trip involved a ride on the Long Island railroad, then on to a NYC subway to the museum's underground stop at 81st street.

There were amazing mosaics of animals on the subway walls.

Looking down, this was one of the floor tiles at the subway s top.

 Outside the front entrance to the museum, an equestrian sculpture of Roosevelt stands.

 It maybe because the design of this portrayal of Roosevelt is a bit too idealistic, that the museum decided to use a more human, trail blazing, adventurer styled bronze of the President.  His hat, binoculars, neckerchief, and explorer's clothing appear in the new bronze. 

 

 Quotations from Roosevelt are engraved into the building's facade.  The museum is a tribute to his life long interest in the environment and natural history.  There are exhibits inside from his youth, and lists of the National parks and expanses of land in the United States that Roosevelt set aside for  future generations.  Sometimes he had to go against big businesses and the houses of government to get this done.

 For the holidays, the Museum decorated the front steps with topiaries of dinosaurs.

 There is a magnificent display of the universe with huge models of the planets and the solar system, explaining the relative sizes of the heavenly bodies and the distances between them.

 As a child, I remembered the many beautifully designed, painted, and sculpted dioramas of animals and geography.  As an adult, I am taken by the efforts to replicate all of that by the many artists that worked on these creations.

 When I look at indigenous and primitive artifacts on display, I cannot help but connect these with modern artists that used them for inspiration.

 Fossils and

 recreations of ancient animals,

 dinosaurs full size on display,

 and the bones of past creatures reconstructed, so that visitors, adults and children can marvel at their size and ferociousness. 

 When I got to the museum, I looked for this particular diorama of a cross section of garden soil with its leaves and bugs.  It was still there, and still giant!

 Some of the exhibits are large and hanging,

 some are cast and small.

 One of the areas that I most enjoy is the portrayal of human development.

 Then, there is a area dedicated to minerals and gem stones.

 Huge crystals are displayed in the walls.

 Geodes and

 gem stones are on display.

 But the thing that made this trip to the American Museum of Natural History was the new realistic sculpture of President Theodore Roosevelt.  Visit the museum soon,and discover all of the things that you remember from your childhood visits, and see the new exhibits that make us appreciate anew, the contributions of Roosevelt. Located at Central Park West at 79th Street, NY, New York 10024.