Most exasperating, however, was discovering that the United States Botanical Gardens conservatory has been closed to the public for over 2 years, at least according to its website. The outside gardens are open, but not the USBG conservatory. When I go to DC, I always check the schedule of lectures at the USBG, just in case I get lucky as I did when I once saw Roy Klehm lecture. This time, however, the website has not been updated for quite some time and there is no mention of a reopening date. It seems that the USBG is within the "U. S. Capitol campus" and the fools on Capitol Hill, elected and despotic, are deathly afraid that perhaps a massive revolutionary coup will be staged from within the Children's Garden or perhaps the Orchids Room. Good grief.
My dear Representatives, Senators, Supreme Court Judges, and Executive;
When in the course of gardening it becomes necessary for peoples with calloused hands and sunburned faces to dissolve the political idiot-cracy and allow visitors to the public gardens to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitles them, it is our right, nay our duty, to throw open the gates and allow the people inside. Hortus Populus, Mors Tyrannis (Let the People garden, Death to Tyrants)! You are right to fear the peasants who are most familiar with the proper use of pitchforks and shovels. Let Freedom Grow!