My husband, John, is a huge country music fan. And due to a guilt-by-association anomaly also known by me as "The Yankees Phenomenon," I have become a country music fan, too.
Growing up in Queens, I followed the Mets. My best friend Lisa's family had season tickets to Shea and, being her best friend, I was a frequent guest. To be honest, I never really enjoyed the game, but it was fun to sit out in the sun and throw peanut shells and walk around the stadium and sing during the 7th-inning stretch. We even placed 3rd on Banner Day one year. But I digress.
The point I'm trying to make is that John lives, eats and breathes Yankees. And although I'd always considered myself a Mets fan, twenty years with a diehard Yankees fan has had an impact on me. It was slow and gradual, I suppose, because I didn't realize it was happening. But a few years ago when the Mets were playing the Yankees in a high-profile Subway Series, I underwent a bit of self-discovery: I found myself wearing a Derek Jeter shirt and rooting for the Yankees. When did this happen? And how? Why? Was it peer pressure? Am I that weak? I can't answer any of those questions, but I do know that now I'm more comfortable in the Bronx than in Queens.
Since I've taken to country music, we've traveled to Buffalo just to see a Kenny Chesney concert. We've seen Toby Keith at the Meadowlands and Keith Urban at the Beacon. Then, last year we made a family pilgrimage to Austin, Tx.
This past Valentine's Day, John and I went to Nashville. Expecting only to take in a show at the Grand ol' Opry (which we did,) eat real southern BBQ (ditto) and sit in a honky tonk (where we met Larry the Cable Guy sitting at the bar!), I didn't know I'd be in for a pleasant surprise: I landed in a gardener's paradise.
Our hotel, The Gaylord Opryland, was a veritable indoor city of sorts. Encompassing nine acres, the entire resort is under a series of glass atriums. Three levels of winding paths take visitors past restaurants and shops, around a river that hosts a scenic Delta flatboat ride and through gardens. And no ordinary gardens, these! They are home to more than 50,000 plants, many of them rare and from other parts of the world.
The scenery within Opryland is nothing short of breathtaking. What I found particularly clever is that because the atriums are climate controlled -- maintained at a steady 68 - 72 degrees with 35 % relative humidity year-round -- pretty much anything can bloom at any time. Springtime hyacinths surround early summer roses against a backdrop of asters and mums, which only make an appearance in our parts during autumn. 
Bromeliads, which Long Islanders think of as house plants, lined quaint pathways, while a coffee tree sporting clusters of beans in various stages of ripeness welcomed passersby. At one end of the river a lone lemon tree stood watch behind a 44-foot cascading waterfall, weighed down by fragrant yellow fruit. And dozens of potted cyclamens hung from lampposts and surrounded the revolving Cascades lounge, where I enjoyed a Mojito or two.
With an annual budget of ONE MILLION DOLLARS for plant materials and labor, Opryland employs 15 full-time indoor horticulturists, each assigned to one of three atriums housing the gardens. Affectionately referred to as "ninjas" by the other employees because they manage to maintain the grounds impeccably but seldom are seen, the gardeners can arrange their charges according to their own visions.
I was lucky enough to catch one such ninja, Kristi Holt, in the act. She meticulously grooms the gardens in the Cascades Atrium under horticulture manager Hollis Malone, keeping them weed-free, swapping out nearly spent blossoms for just-ready-to-bloom ones and constantly adding new color and interest in beds along the bench-lined pathways.
Let's Play a Game
These are four of my favorite plants from Opryland. Can you name them? The legal suits won't let me have a contest, but I can promise to give you credit for naming all four correctly. They're numbered from one to four (top left is #1, top right, #2; bottom left is #3, bottom right, #4.) Shoot me an email with your entry and I'll post the correct ones here.
UPDATE: 3/28/07 -- Click continue for the answers.
Thanks to all who tried to identify the plants pictured. Unfortunately, none of you got them right. Here are the correct answers:
Photo 1 (top left) is a pepper called Poinsettia cluster
Photo 2 (top right) is a Croton ( Codiaeum) called Curly Boy Red
Photo 3 (bottom left) is a Peacock Plant (Calathea picturata ‘Argentea’)
Photo 4 (bottom right) is Calathea picturata ‘Vandenhecki’
Comments (1)
I don't know the names of the plants, but did want to comment that I loved the Gaylord Opryland and all the indoor gardens. I was there for a conference, and while I didn't see a Ninja, I did see one of their carts. I'd love a job there tending plants!