Not Your Garden Variety

Obviously you know I’m devoted to all-things-Dickinson.  However, if you’ve glanced over my recent posts, you can also tell that I’m a big Hitchcock fan and a film noir buff.   Further study would reveal that I’m a lover of margaritas, an admirer of architecture – especially designs by Frank Lloyd Wright – and a neon enthusiast and photographer of vintage roadside signs. Here are a few signs I spotted on my recent trip:

But – did you know that I’m also a collector of glass?  Mainly antique medicinal and pharmaceutical bottles, but also stained glass and other glass pieces:

Knowing of my interest in glass – and of the circuit for my upcoming trip – a friend on CounterSocial recommended I see the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  And why not?  I was already to be on Harvard Yard to visit the Dickinson Room in the Houghton Library.  Accordingly, the HMNH was added to my itinerary!

From the museum's website:

"One of Harvard University’s most famous treasures is the internationally acclaimed Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, better known as the Glass Flowers.' This unique collection was made by Leopold (1822-1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857-1939), a father and son team of Czech glass artists. Over fifty years, from 1886 through 1936, the Blaschkas produced 4,300 glass models that represent 780 plant species."

Folks, every botanical bit you're seeing in these pictures is GLASS.  The petals, the pistils, the stamens, the roots – even what appears to be dirt on the roots – it's all GLASS!

WOW!  What an exhibit!  I could not believe I was looking at glass -- and yes, the models are made entirely of glass!  Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that these models were crafted by nineteenth century glass artisans, father and son Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.  According to the Harvard site, “Their lineage of jewelers and glassmakers trace as far back as the fifteenth century.”

For me, the exhibit called to mind Dickinson's lines, "If the foolish, call them "flowers" / Need the wiser, tell?"  (You know I had to tie in Dickinson somehow.  LOL).  And was I "foolish" for calling these specimens "flowers"?  They certainly looked like flowers to me!

Of course, you might recall that Hitchcock used Dickinson's lines to capture the essence of his colorful thriller "Garden Plot." (You know I had to tie in Hitchcock somehow. LOL).   

And who could forget those opening lines to "Garden Party," the love theme to Hitchcock's "Garden Plot," which seem to encapsulate what I had just seen at Harvard Natural Science Museum's glass flower exhibit:

I went to a garden expo to analyze the blooms I knew
A chance to scan the greeneries and check their buds anew.
When I got to the garden expo, some I knew the name
Yes I recognized them, and damn they looked the same

And it's all right now, I learned my lesson well
If ya, can’t reap every flower, then a glass one is just as swell!

More pics from the Harvard Natural History Museum are on my travelogue, "Dial 'Em' for Emily," HERE. 

More posts from my trip are here:

07.27.2026: THE TROUBLES WITH EMILY, CLICK HERE. 
07.26.2026: THE MAN WHO BLOGGED TOO MUCH, CLICK HERE. 
07.25.2026:  STRANGE TURNS ON A TRAIN, CLICK HERE. 
07.24.2026:  HOW SWEETEST IT IS, CLICK HERE. 
07.23.2026:  A DATE WITH DESTINY, CLICK HERE.
07.22.2026:  THIS – IS THE BLOG POST – ​THE SUNSET WASHES, CLICK HERE.
07.21.2026:  DOUBLE ETERNITY, CLICK HERE. 
07.20.2026:  THE ORACLE WORE A WHITE DRESS -- PART DEUX, CLICK HERE.
07.19.2026:  ALL THINGS MATTER, CLICK HERE. 
07.18.2026:  INTRODUCTORY PLOG POST ABOUT "DIAL 'EM' FOR EMILY," CLICK HERE.