Rio Grande Botanic Gardens - May Photo Shoot

After meeting for lunch today, Sherry and I went to the Rio Grande Botanic Gardens. Today turned out to be the hottest day of the year, so far -- above 90! -- so we limited our visit to the Heritage Farm. It was too hot to enjoy the rest of the Gardens. Neither Sherry nor I have much tolerance for heat. Here are a few pictures from Heritage Farm, a working farm, where visitors can catch a glimpse of farm life from the 1920s and 1930s.









One thing we hoped to see today was the Japanese Garden, which opened last fall. When we lived in Oregon, the Portland Japanese Garden was, perhaps, my very favorite place to visit. It was so lush, so green, so peaceful. I even loved it in the rain. But I am having a very hard time picturing, in my mind, what a Japanese Garden must look like, here in the high desert! I learned, recently, though, that the garden is a combined effort of park staff and Toru Tanaka, a Japanese-garden designer based in Portland! I hope to visit it soon . . . maybe when Gloria is here. If so, we will go in the morning, before the temperature rises.

Below are some scenes from other parts of the Botanic Garden, that we passed through in getting to the Farm. It's really a beautiful place, and I'm looking forward to returning, some cool morning.