We visited Longwood Gardens earlier this week to study winter trees. Which trees were dormant? Which trees still had leaves? How did these leaves compare to tree leaves we see in the spring, summer, and fall months?
We gathered some evergreen samples, posed some questions (why does ivy stay green all winter long?), drew in our nature journals, and enjoyed a cold day out in nature.
While at the fish pond, we spotted fox poo! Lucy waited no time finding a stick to poke the poo, and we examined it (as closely as we could) to see what clues it gave us. Of particular interest was the animal hair inside, which gave us a clue that it was some kind of meat-eating animal. We also looked around to find fox prints on the deck and nearby muddy banks.
Oh! And no visit to Longwood is complete without a thorough drenching in the children's garden. Since it is January, I asked the kids to please not get their hair wet. They did a great job listening, perhaps because they had carte blanche for the rest of their bodies.
Our visits to Longwood became so much easier with the addition of a strip of private bathrooms near the children's garden. Love, love, love these bathrooms. It's amazing how simple things (a private, close, warm bathroom) can really make a trip exponentially easier.
We visited on MLK Day, and Longwood hosted a series of events for children. I'd thought perhaps the cold weather would keep some visitors away, but it was still crazy-crowded. Since my tolerance for crowds tends to be zero (and "crowd" can mean more than ten other visitors), we were happy to spend the rest of our visit outside, cold weather or no cold weather.
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