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| Fort Worth Botanic Garden Center and Conservatory |
In the early part of the spring, when we had a
break from the nearly daily rain that has fallen in North Texas this year, Dave
and I decided that we wanted to see the newly re-opened Conservatory at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. This 110 acre garden
located is in a pretty part of the city, near the Trinity River, the Fort Worth
Zoo, and the Will Rogers Complex. The oldest botanic garden in Texas, it was
established in 1934 and has about 2,500 species of native and exotic plants in
its 22 specialty gardens. The Conservatory houses the ‘tropical plants’ that
can’t stand the vagaries of Texas weather.
Application was made to the National Register of
Historic Places and can be viewed
online. It is an interesting, if extensive document, in that it gives the
history and physical structure of
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| Red veined bracts |
all the small gardens within the Botanic
Garden. I actually downloaded this document and have read much of it for
background for this blog. The Garden was entered into the National Register on
January 29, 2009. The rose garden, constructed in 1933, is cited as ‘one of
four excellent examples of the classic period of the municipal rose garden, an
era from 1927 to 1937’. Its formal style was influenced by Italian and French
formal gardens of the 16th through the 18th centuries. The other historic parts
of the garden are the Rock Springs area, the vistas and adjacent woods, the
horseshoe and the original Garden Center building and greenhouse. Construction
of the public rose garden and other parts of the garden was unusual because
approximately 750 artisans and laborers were hired through relief programs of
Herbert Hoover's administration and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Construction
was expected to take years. With the Reconstruction Finance Corp. labor force,
the garden was finished in nine months. The Botanic Garden is a great place to
wander around in a fairly natural setting – they have omitted the poison ivy
and undergrowth of a completely natural Texas woodland. We’re looking forward
to going back to visit the Japanese Garden and to see some of the other smaller
gardens.
There are plenty of things to see and do in Fort Worth, as
well as lots of places to grab a snack! For information about my rating system,
see Reading
the Reviews.
What we did:
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| Four carrots |
Fort Worth Botanic Garden (3220 Botanic Garden Boulevard, Fort Worth,
Texas, 817-392-
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| White flowering plant |
5510) is open daily. An admission fee is charged for the
Conservatory and Japanese Garden; the other gardens are free. There is plenty
of free parking.
What we ate:
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| Three and one-half carrots |
The Gardens
Restaurant (3220 Rock Springs Road, Fort Worth, TX 76107, 817-731 – 2547)
is a pretty little place with seating both indoors and out. The day we were
there, it was full outside but seating was available inside. They were also
hosting a luncheon of some
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Left T to B: Gardens menu, Reuben sandwich
Right: Apricot chicken sandwicn |
sort in one of the private rooms. This made service
horribly slow; apparently there were only two waitresses. It was also
irritating to see the chef sitting at a table next to us talking at length with
a colleague when the servers were so obviously rushed off their feet; adding
insult to injury was another person who seemed to be drifting around aimlessly,
neither cleaning tables nor taking orders. We were finally told by the hostess
that even she had been called in to help with seating, since they had not
expected such a rush. We were still irritated by the time our food arrived,
which made it difficult to enjoy the meal. Why didn’t we walk out? I had heard
good things about the food and really wanted to taste it. Dave had the Classic
Reuben; it came with corned beef, melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand
Island dressing on rye bread. I had Apricot Chicken Salad on Toasted Ciabatta;
this was homemade apricot chicken salad, with mixed field greens and tomatoes. The sandwiches were very good, as were the fries. The food almost made up for the long wait. We both enjoyed our lunches and
would go back, again. Prices were reasonable.
The City of Fort Worth has sprawled in all
directions, having a rather lace-like quality to its
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| Fort Worth skyline |
eastern boundary. Although
you may believe that you are in Keller, Watauga, Haslet, Saginaw or some other
small town, you’re actually in Fort Worth. And that’s why this entry is
included in this blog: we were in Fort Worth and didn’t know it.
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| Four carrots, but only for the food! |
Tom + Chee
(#137, 8901 Tehama Ridge Pkwy, Fort Worth, TX 76177, 817-847-7635) is all the
things I don’t like in an eatery. The menu is on the wall, you order at the
counter, you
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Top L to R: Menu, Crunchy BBQ sandwich
Bottom L to R: Drink, Build Your Own sandwich |
have to seat yourself, it’s loud, and it’s a chain. So why did I
actively go looking for this place to introduce it to Dave? Because the food is
very good. You can Build Your Own Grilled Cheese sandwich (or half sandwich)
and that’s just what I did. Mine was gouda and goat cheese on wheatberry bread
with sautéed mushrooms and basil pesto. The bread was buttery and toasty, the
cheeses nicely melted, there were plenty of mushrooms, and the pesto was just
the tang it all needed. I asked for a fork to scoop up the melted cheese and
mushrooms that dripped out. The half-sandwich is plenty, but you can also get
tomato soup and/or dessert. Dave had the BBQ + Bacon Crunchy Grilled Cheese. It
had barbecue potato chips, bacon, and American cheese on white bread. We both
got soft drinks and were able to refill them a couple of times before we left. We spent about $15. This
group prepares amazingly good sandwiches. Happily, you can order online and
pick up in the store – I wish it was closer to my house!
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| Spores on the underside of a leaf |
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