Lincoln Park Conservatory: Perhaps a Poinsettia or Two?

Last winter I visited the Lincoln Park Conservatory here in Chicago.  This building is next to the Lincoln Park Zoo; what a spectacular area of the city!

Among the flora and fauna I encountered that day, I came upon a room filled with poinsettias! Talk about captivating!  I had no idea there were so many colors of this type of plant.  When I was a child, we always had red poinsettias at Christmas.  Here I was in a public, poinsettia wonderland, feeling quite bemused at my findings.  This may sound rather strange; silly perhaps, but I felt as if I had discovered a well-kept secret! So, all poinsettias are not created equal!  I saw red (naturally!) poinsettias, white, light pink, rose pink, blushed pink, spotted, and some poinsettias a color the likes of which I’ve certainly never seen before!

Being somewhat of a traditionalist (or perhaps the more appropriate term would be, “person in the dark all these years”) I found my favorite poinsettia of all time (red, wouldn’t you know):

Here is another, “FMI” (for my information, since I didn’t know this either):  this poinsettia looked like a tree! And I asked myself (because there was no one else at the moment to clarify my pondering perceiving) is this the way ALL poinsettias grow if left to their own, wild devices?  I have no idea; perhaps you can shed some light on these plants for me!

Ah, the, “Canadian Content” you knew it might show up, didn’t you? And show up it did (literally):

I was thrilled to see a model train coming ’round the bend, as it were.  I thought I spotted the word,  “Canadian”, but I wasn’t quite sure, so I waited for the train to travel around the circuit, camera poised, and there it was! “Canadian Apples”, next to the “Fluid Recycling Services” tank.  Hhhhmmm, best not to mix up the two; I don’t know about you, but I don’t quite think I’d take to the idea of recycled apples.

But I digress; we were talking about poinsettias, weren’t we?

Now how on earth did that train show up again? Ah, note the sign, “Please Do Not Touch the Trains!” Gee, that is some heavy-duty fence ‘stickage’ they have protecting the recycled apples, don’t you think?

Perhaps I should simply stick with red poinsettias; clearly at this point, I am way off track!!