That's the association I got when I first started editing this picture, if maybe a science-fictiony version. The geodesic dome, the Climatron, pulsed with solid and patterned colors.
I've got a few more of these to go. Not getting out on the street much, and when I go to an event like this I use a rollator. A new lumbar MRI was, well, a mess. Steroid shots next week as a stop-gap before travel, and then we'll see what the doc recommends. Gotta get more mobile.
That's the title of this piece at the HYBYCOZO exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The dictionary built into my Mac defines the word as an arrangement of shapes closely fitted together, especially of polygons in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping. It sits in front of the Climatron, a geodesic dome with such sophisticated air systems that it contains four different climate zones.
Just after entering Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden, visitors are led past a curved line of lights toward the Climatron. It is a geodesic dome containing a complex system of landforms and ventilation that replicates four climate zones.
Another bauble in Garden Glow. The Climatron is a geodesic dome that contains four climatic zones, formed by complex internal shapes and air systems. As with lots of the other glow features, the colors change and pulse.
Yesterday was unseasonably warm (what else is new). I went to our wonderful botanical garden for a walk with my camera. Despite the very warm winter, there was not yet much blooming. The garden has a large geodesic dome known as the Climatron, with four distinct climactic zones controlled by complex air systems, so I went inside. The sky was blue, the water reflected the sky and the aquaculture was happy.
Our botanical garden has a large geodesic dome called the Climatron. Ingenious interior landscaping and air systems divide the area into four climactic zones. This group is called, I think, Ikebana, after Japanese flower art. It looks to me like it's in a lush tropical garden in, say, Hawaii.
This area is what our botanical garden calls its central axis. The whole place has irregular, meandering areas but this is, so to speak, the backbone. There are two reflecting pools of equal length, the second not visible here due to foreshortening. They hold works by the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, who also has a large group of figures in a major fountain downtown. At the rear is the Climatron, designed by Buckminster Fuller. It contains four distinct climate zones, separated by a complex system of barriers and air controls.
The geodesic dome of the Climatron in red and green colors with suggestions of giant Christmas trees. I bet someone has researched why certain colors and shapes are associated with particular holidays but I just take pictures of them.
Every year at this time the wonderful Missouri Botanical Garden illuminates the grounds for an event called Garden Glow. It's been seen in these pages for years and never fails to delight. This is the view down the reflecting pool toward the Climatron, a geodesic dome that houses four different climate zones. All of it changes color as time passes.
Something else unusual from the Climatron. Looks a little scary to me, like something poisonous or a creature that would bud and swell and sprawl until it had devoured everything in sight. The unfocused leaf on the right could be its henchman.
We got our first serious snow of the winter yesterday. The picture below was taken from my front porch at noon with a temperature of 3 F / -16 C. The snow continued all afternoon and into the evening. Other places had it worse. Texas was about completely shut down. It snowed in Houston, for heaven's sake. That's like asphalt melting from a heat wave in Fairbanks.
Things I know about plants: both Canada and the New York City Parks Department use the maple leaf as an emblem. There is a Monty Python sketch called "How to Recognize Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away." Gin comes from juniper berries. Evergreens are about the same color year round. I could live without asparagus. And a few other things.
One of my legal colleagues identified the plant in yesterday's post as fireweed (news to me) using a phone app called PlantSnap. I downloaded it and it's amazing, able to identify flora even from photographs. We will put it to use during our virtual walk around the Climatron. What makes this variety untrue it didn't say.
Somewhere between red Valentine hearts and that Rolling Stones logo with the big curved red tongue, this salacious plant was found yesterday at the botanical garden. I have no idea what it is. I'm more interested in imagery than botany.
It's bitterly cold here by our standards. (Again, no jokes from residents of Frostbite Falls, etc.). There are only a handful of things to do indoors but a new opportunity came around. The Climatron at the botanical garden, that amazing, big, multi-climate geodesic dome, has been reopened on a limited basis. Mrs. C and I took a stroll through yesterday. Since my cupboard is otherwise bare, it looks like days of plants in this space. I promise it will be worth a look.
Across the long reflecting pool at the botanical garden. At the back is the Climatron, the remarkable multi-ecosystem geodesic dome.
It would be nice to scare up some new material but the restrictions in our area have gone up a couple of notches. Local hospitals are a week or two from bursting over capacity as the virus surges. Well spaced outdoor stuff is okay and the whole family is going to Garden Glow on Saturday night.
Inside the Climatron. The interior landscaping and airflow somehow divide it into four wet - dry - cool - warm zones, each with its own characteristic plants. I have no idea what the red flowers are. They were some distance away and it was hard to focus just on them and not the surrounding leaves. (I should have put the focus on single point but I didn't think of it.) The flowers look to me like they are rising in jubilation.
One of the most famous buildings in St. Louis, at least to locals, the Climatron in the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is a geodesic dome greenhouse, built on the concepts of the architect and engineer R. Buckminster Fuller, and turns 50 years old next week. In 1976 it was named one of the 100 most significant architectural achievements in United States history. You can see more details about the structure at https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/our-garden/gardens-conservatories/conservatories/climatron.aspx .
The long pool in front of it is full of lily pads, some floating Chihuly glass ornaments and a bit of sculpture. It looks especially good at night when it is lit by changing color lights.
