Free State National Botanical Garden

Welcome to Free State           
National Botanical Gardens

This was the first thing I saw after interring in the gardens 

I got a bit nervous when I recognized this bush lily to be one that I have in my front yard and I read what this sign was saying about how poisonous it is.








 I expected lots of flowers but there where mostly trees and bushes.  They were beautiful and there were markers to explain how these trees and plant were used by men anciently and today.

 

Dalen is walking towards a medicine lodge. 

It is made of mud and dung and has a thatched roof.

This is the inside of the lodge.

Not a real good picture but the information is interesting

This building is "not" made for tall people.  I hit my head going in and I am so short I rarely have problem going throughout doorways.

  

These murals where painted on this insides of the medicine hut.  They show typical activities that would be part of the Sotho Live.

These plants are what their medicines were 

made of and in some cases are still made of today.

 These are typical things you would find in a Sotho home.  There is a grass broom, a board for water, some tools, some miniature replicas of the hats the Sotho people wear, and other various things

The bushes and plants you see are all used for medicinal purposes.

This is one of my favorite places.  It is a bird
blind where you go in and look through peep hole at the birds.  There where some really colorful fun birds to look at.  I could not get any really good pictures of them.

 

These garden show the English influence on South Africa.  We see a lot of very manicured yards with little gardens sectioned off in them.

This is the grade of hope from one angle.  It has a large mural depicting a better life for all.

                                                                                                                          We were about to leave when we heard someone saying I know you Elder and Sister.  Up  came a worker who shook our hands and introduced herself as Sister Flora, which I thought was quite appropriate for where we were.  She is a very enthusiastic and sweet sister.  We say her the next Sunday at church and she insisted on a second picture with her Sunday clothes instead of her work clothes.

There was so much more but I think you have seen more than you probably wanted to see anyway.  I hope you enjoyed your short tour of the Free State Botanical Gardens.