Obviously there is much more to see in a botanical garden than just trees and mushrooms. There are of course all kinds of flowers, both hot house plants like orchids, and outdoor flowers like tulips, and the Durham botanic garden has lots of both. Here’s a familiar sampling.
The remarkable thing about the eco-system of this area is that because the temperature normally only varies between about 35-75F all sorts of things can grow here, including sub-tropical plants. You can have on the one hand things like rhododendrons, but on the other hand you can have plants like the monkey puzzle tree. It’s an interesting mixture.
You can find everything from Japanese maples or cherry trees to Australian plants. 
Have you ever pondered– what is all this beauty for? I mean the bugs seem oblivious to it, the bees only pollinate it, the dogs and cats only fertilize it. Did it ever occur to you that beauty is one of God’s calling cards, his visual honeysuckle trying to lure you towards the truth about himself, about reality, about truth? When beauty, truth, love, justice, mercy, kindness all converge, there you have found God, and God uses all these things to woo us to Him. Flowers are one form of God’s love letters to us, reminders, things can be better, more beautiful. It’s worth pondering.
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