Several Pics from Royal Botanical Gardens

Closer:
Imagine trying to do a 2000 pc jigsaw puzzle that looked like this pic!

Japanese Maple, 'Inaba Shidare' growing happily by the pond.

I think the strobilanthes is about $4 a plant in a 4" pot. I put them in the planters at my front door. I'll take some pix.

No I don't have any pix of RBG. That was before my digi camera days.

This thread is going to be disgustingly long if I keep this up and those on dial up are probably going to curse me! With that said I will end the Rock Garden tour with one last photo taken as we were leaving to head to the Laking Gardens. I wanted to get more of this area but a wedding party showed up to have their photos done and we didn't want to be in their way.

I'll post some from the Laking Gardens a little later. I have to say I wasn't over impressed with the hosta walk and it appeared that the markers had been messed around with. There was no attendant at the entrance to this garden, so anybody could've waltzed in there and did heaven knows what.

The Laking Gardens didn't have much to show for this time of year. I'm guessing that mid spring to early summer would be the best times to visit Laking when the Irises and Peonies are blooming.

This is a pic of the field where the irises are located:

A groundhog who we caught red-handed nibbling on the iris leaves. I think he/she was kinda miffed that we interrupted snack time. It headed into this bush as we approached but as soon as we got far enough way, back out into the iris beds it was!

More wildlife.
This little guy scared the wits out of me when I was lifting the foliage of a nearby Heuchera. I probably scared him too!

This is part of the Hosta Walk in Laking. On the left, the gold hosta is King Tut and just beyond is Regal Splendor. The ones on the right were not marked and I wasn't about to play guessing games as so many look alike. There were quite a few markers that were "plantless" and vice versa.

Hosta Frosted Jade is on my list to buy next year.....

......and maybe King Tut as well!

I do have more hosta pics but there is nothing in them that is really worth showing, unless you count the swiss cheese effect (major slug activity).


Flower bed Laking:

Same bed but from the other side. Russian Sage, Heuchera Bressingham Bronze, Echinacea, Dianthus, ornamental grasses etc.

Gaillardia aristata "Oranges and Lemons". I was happy to see this plant as I had bought two myself recently. Very cheerful.

Another bed with Gaillardia, Heucheras and Perovskia.

And that wraps up the photos from RBG. Hope you enjoyed.

Erynne :o)

Very nice Erynne! Love that Frosted Jade Hosta.

Don ^j^

Hi Errynne

I am jealous I would have loved to of been there:) Sure glad you posted all those wonderful photos so we could see it too.

Bea

Thanks Don. Frosted Jade seems to be one of those hostas that passes the 10ft rule, at least for me!

Hi Bea! Pleased to meet you and thanks for your kind words. Now I'm kinda jealous that you can access Butchart Gardens a whole lot easier than I can,lol. Someone posted pics of their trip in the Public Gardens forum and it's just beautiful.

Wonderful pictures Erynne. I really must make the effort to go myself one day. --Ginny

That was an amazing tour Erynne. Thanks, I really enjoyed your pictures.

WOW!!! Ü I see there a number of gorgeous gardens we are going to have to visit in this wonderful country of ours!

Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful sights of your day with us Erynne!!!!! edited to say how wonderful it is to finally *meet* to as well! Ü

This message was edited Oct 1, 2006 12:00 PM

After drooling over your pics some more I really want to get loads of topsoil dumped here and elevate some areas of my yard!! (in my dreams ;).

Thank you ladies and you're all very welcome!
I hear ya Pam about wanting to implement some of the ideas you can get from RBG. I did too, until I got and home and faced the stark realities that I just don't have the space or $$$$. Just gotta work with what you got and make it the very best you can for your family. My garden has to be all kid-friendly, grumble grumble ;)

Try dog-friendly - picture trying to explain to this face, why some long green leaves are ok to eat (grass) but other long green leaves are not! (daylilies)

Yep Erynne I do believe it's the $$$$ that's stopping me as well. ;'(

Awwwwwww what a sweetie pie 2zeus! Ü

Cheryl, what an adorable little doggie! Boy or girl? I was wondering why dogs eat grass. I saw my neighbor's dog chomping away on some grass and then she started making these gross choking sounds. Once the choking was done, she started again. Sheesh, it can't be all that good,lol.

I was poking around on the Butchart Gardens' site just to have a look at the pics and noticed that they sell flower seeds.....just run of the mill stuff but pretty inexpensive and the seed counts seem fairly good. Anyone ever order from them?? I picked up 8 pks for me and the kiddies (and one celosia pack for the big kid); shipping was only $2.25 to Ontario...not bad. Here's a link if interested:
http://www.butchartgardens.com/store/cart/pages/ItemsByCategory.aspx?category_id=23

I thought this was the coolest gift card:
http://www.butchartgardens.com/store/cart/pages/ItemDetails.aspx?category_id=24&store_item_id=673&page=1

This message was edited Oct 2, 2006 6:24 PM

The statues and a bit about the artists can be found on a link from CBC Dispatches from last week. I was wondering how on earth Zimbabwe artists could fund shipping themselves and all that stone from Zimbabwe to Canada. Lovely carvings - if you have a huge sculpture garden.

http://cbc.ca

Then find the programme called Dispatches.

inanda

Erynne, dogs use grass as an emetic.

That one is a girl, and the black one is a boy - here they are hanging out today under the forsythia bush, enjoying the sun.

Excuse the very dead looking zinnias in the corner of the picture, I'm letting them go to seed.

Just one more:

Well that certainly explains the choking I heard from my neighbor's pooch.(ewww)
No camera-shyness from your babies I see. They look quite experienced when it comes to photo ops!
So who's the dominant one?

Beautiful dachsunds Cheryl. My cousins always had them when I was a kid and I've always loved them.

--Ginny

2zeus - Aw, the pooches are the cutest!

Erynne - Wow, wow, wow! Thoroughly enjoyed your tour. The spider web garden was cool and the pic of you was gawjuss. I love waterfalls!! Loved the nooks and crannies in the rock garden area. The stone stairway gave me some needed inspiration for developing the slope on the north side of our house. Hey, I also noticed your DH got his hair cut - a buzz? So he likes that Celosia, eh? Here's a pic just for him from our Museum gardens, lol.

The Romantic Garden 'heart':

Love your dogs Cheryl, they look llike real pals.

Erynne, I ordered seeds from Butchart Gardens a few years ago, along with a little china flower holder. I don't remember what I ordered, but I think they grew fine.

Thanks Sandy! With your landscape, you could soooo do a stairway quite similar to that one. Very nice pic of the garden at the museum; I didn't realize that the gardens there are so elaborate. We'll have to have a peek at it one day. Yup, I cut DH's hair (sheesh you're observant). I cut his & he cuts mine, prolly because we're too lazy to go to the hairdressers,lol. I've always known how to cut men's hair since I was a kid though. DH says thank you for the pic of the Celosia and he wanted to know if you put all those rocks there ( I think he was kidding).

Thanks for mentioning your experience with Butchart Gardens, Brenda. They do have 2 positives in the Watchdog which is good to see as well.

Erynne, the little female is the dominant one, she drives my poor older guy nuts, tormenting him, will go up and take toys away from him, and he just looks at me with those eyes and sighs long-sufferingly....

They are the comedians of the dog world, that's for sure, and have the neighbourhood trained - they get dog cookies now from: the garbagemen, the mailman, the paper delivery guy, an elderly gentleman who walks by every evening, and various neighbours.

I notice the red in that picture does seem to leap right out at one, hmmm? Love the stones, though.

Erynne
Thanks for the tour! I love to see what the experts are doing , it gives new ideas to try.
I found that persian sheild at Rona 2 winters ago in the house plant section. I kept it inside and took cuttings towards spring.
Nice 4 legged babies all.
Ann

Cheryl, that is so funny that your dogs actually like all those men in uniform coming round the house. Most dogs I've ever known want to attack them for some reason,lol. I guess the cookies help!
I still say that those celosias really grab ones attention. Next year I've decided to have container plants with celosia and bold-as-all-get-out plants just for DH. Sort of tropical like for the deck area where there is good sunshine. This is going to take some planning for which plants to use and thank goodness I've got all winter to think this out.

Annabell, I never thought to look for Persian Sheild at Rona. My nearest Rona has a good indoor plant selection so maybe they have some tucked in there somewhere. Thanks for mentioning it :o)

Erynne, I read a dog book a while back that stated "Dachshunds are very food-motivated." When I read that aloud to my DH, he gave a shout of laughter and said "Translation: Dachshunds would trade 3 legs for a cookie, and get by with one leg, and their nose as a crutch!"

I think it's along the lines of "Who cares what you're wearing, got any FOOD?"