An accidental visit to the lovely Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville was most interesting. After viewing the bonsai show we walked through the gardens. One of the most striking exhibits was of “Big Bugs”—sculpture by David Rogers. If you like bugs there is some fun information on the Cheekwood website (Click Here).

I enjoyed studying the praying mantis and then looked off in the distance to see what looked like space invaders from War of the Worlds.

The garden path meandered through lovely flower plantings. I was delighted to see this sign which backed up my practice of telling people that an electric fence is, indeed, appropriate in the landscape garden.

The gardener had even set out a special sign to give a reason for the fence. I didn’t need one. I knew.

We walked on, enjoying the lovely day. And then I came across the “space men” which turned out to be a granddaddy long legs spider.

I realized that I had been enjoying the signage and that perhaps I should share:

The artist, David Rogers, took good advantage of the reflective qualities of water as he placed his dragonfly in just the right spot.
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And, of course, there was a sign for the dragonflies.

I had seen sphinx-like statues in other gardens. This one commanded a nice view of the shade garden

And a sign that told me some things I hadn’t known:

One of my favorite pictures was this one of Sweetie in a bird cage. What they say is true, “The caged Sweetie didn’t sing.”

For David Rogers’ website, CLICK HERE
Thank you for visiting John the Plant Man
As usual, I would just love for you click here to go to Amazon and purchase the ebook edition of my wonderful book, Requiem for a Redneck to go on your Kindle. I have also noticed that Amazon now has a free Kindle app for iphones and tablets. Is that cool or what?
John, what is the purple plant in the photo with the sphinx?
-Sharon
I’m not sure of the variety, Sharon, but it is some kind of medium sized caladium.
The plant in question is Caldium ‘Sweet Dreams’.
John, thanks for the wonderful write-up on your visit to Cheekwood. If your travels bring you this way again, I’d love to take you around and show you “behind the scenes”.
Patrick Larkin, Sr. VP for Gardens & Facilities, Cheekwood