How Does the Garden Grow?

Want to make your own aromatherapy lotion, visit a genuine potato museum or find out if there are any real-life, flesh-eating plants blooming around your house? You can do it all and more at the U.S. Botanic Garden's Fresh Ideas Festival.

This year’s one-day festival celebrates the annual summer terrace exhibit, “Thrive! From the Ground Up.” The list of events includes a myriad of activities to educate the public on the healthful benefits of plants that grow around us.There will be guided tours and lectures. You can learn the medical and therapeutic secrets of the earth's plant kingdom, and while enjoying the aesthetic beauty of the flowers, you can sip on a concoction brewed from things that bloom. You can also learn about herbs and spices, take part in a veggie cooking demonstration, or make like a lotus in a yoga class on the lawn.
 
Whether you have a big back yard or a little sun in the kitchen window, the festival this year is designed to encourage home gardening. The activities for children and adults will last from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on the grounds of the U.S. Botanic Garden and Conservatory, located at 100 Maryland Ave. in Washington.
 
But leave your pet slugs at home. They just might get eaten by one of those carnivorous, flesh-eating beauties growing in the garden.
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