On my recent trip to Boise, Idaho, I got to wander through a place so cool that I still slightly SQUEE when I think about that blessed patch of Earth.
What am I blathering on about? Well, the Idaho Botanical Garden of course! The singular purpose of our trip to Boise was to tour The Old Idaho State Penitentiary, a place that was fascinating indeed (a post or possibly two on that spectacular place is forthcoming, have no fear), but this post is about the attraction that is right next door to the old state pen, the botanical gardens.
After touring the prison, we walked next door to the Garden entrance and paid our entry fees. Now, the entrance was sorta non-descript, there was just a lush green grass field, lots of gravel, and this pile of pumpkins:
The nice lady who took our money handed us flyers and the admonition was laid on us to, Vote for your favorite!.
"Favorite what?" I inquired in a most clueless manner.
"Why, your favorite scarecrow of course, there are 33 of them scattered throughout the garden to vote on." she replied in that tone aunties use when you are acting like an addled dolt.
My inner seven year old got super stoked then. Not only was I about to see all manner of horticultural glory, but there was a scarecrow contest too?! It seemed too good to be true!
The scarecrows started off strong with some being placed at the edge and throughout the field that led up to the main part of the garden. One of my favorites was this one, I mean, you have to admit it's a bit of an existential terrorist:
We then made it to the main part of the garden. I love gardens! They are quick to tell you what season one dwells in, and this one didn't disappoint. The trees and grasses were especially good heralds of the season, their leaves and fronds all manner of fall colors.
One of my favorite sections of the garden abutted the eastern wall of the prison. The old hand hewn rock guard tower made me imagine all sorts of scenarios, not to mention that catwalk looked a bit precarious and I wondered if any brave soul had recently tried to film an amateur parkour Tik Tok on it.
Scarecrows abounded throughout the various different sections of the garden. I really enjoyed the fire-wise garden that had different zones of plantings recommended to fireproof your landscaping so to speak. I think it was the crushed lava rock that lined the paths in that garden that really made the whole theme hit home for me.
But perhaps the most thematic morsel of the entire tour was on the northern edge of the garden, the old prison cemetery! I mean, how often are you touring some clematis-vined wonderland when all of a sudden you walk into a stark dry grass accessorized plot of the dead. It really fit the fall vibe of the entire place. Plus, as someone who has more than a modicum of appreciation for history, I was ecstatic by the presence of all those headstones. There were so many unknown ones scattered throughout the dead grass. It really makes you ponder the idea that within three generations of your passing no one will remember or know who you are....
And then we were back in the garden again! I got pretty distracted running back and forth through the living willow house and it began to dawn on me just how hard picking a scarecrow to vote for might be. The dementor scarecrow was awesome, I really liked the Day of the Dead painted doll-looking one, and then my eyes lit on this, Garden Libre. Nacho Libre is one of my all time favorite movies, mainly because Nacho is a living characterization of my dad. Can you guess which scarecrow got my vote?
To be honest, I kinda wanted to vote for all of them, so props to the volunteers who run the garden and all the members of the community who participate in such a thing, it made my trip to the botanical garden even more special!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's not dropped into the koi pond while she was leaning over the treehouse railing oohing and ahhing like a derelict tourist iPhone.
