Am I too new here to make ya'll all jealous? hehe
As I wrote in my passiflora thread, I have a daughter in Vancouver whom I'll be visiting in March. Hubby will take care of the kids just fine, but - oh! - I'm going to be so worried about my garden at home. :(
I wish I could go a little later, but she's going to be presenting her thesis in March, and I'm invited to attend.
Jo
Going to Butchart Gardens!
Wow, Jo. I'd say that's a pretty good reason to go to Vancouver. And congratulations on going to Butchart Gardens. We've been there too in May though. The roses hadn't bloomed yet, but Everything else was blooming! I have never seen so many flowers in one place!
We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. DH planned the whole trip without telling me where we were going. He told me to pack for weather like we have in spring and that's all the information I had to go on. I didn't know where we were going until we got to the airport in San Antonio. We were sitting there waiting for the flight and he said "Ok, now do you want to know where we are going?" It was a really wonderful trip.
What a wonderful husband!
I've been to Vancouver before, but never to the gardens because I was recovering from a minor - but painful - back injury and didn't think I could hike around the gardens all day. However, I did get to see the "free" Queen Elizabeth garden, and it's just lovely, albeit much smaller. Here's a link to someone else's pictures of the garden I found on the web.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1293349137066617183cWwacq
I'd post some of my pics, but they're saved on an external drive somewhere. I have a "Mac," now.
Yes, he is a wonderful husband.:) I don't remember anything about a Queen Elizabeth garden. Maybe I can see that one if we ever go back. But we spent all day at Butchart. DH hunts with a guy who was a plumber at the gardens, so we had a personal tour guide. We took a lot of video on the trip and when we got home, we made it into a short "movie" called The Victoria Secret since the trip was a secret (from me atleast).:)
I remember Butchart Gardens as being so beautiful, even though a lot of years have passed since I was there. I was on a work assignment in Seattle, and on a Saturday took the steamer Princess Margarite to Vancouver. Spent most of day wandering the grounds. Wonderful way to revitalize an old quarry site. A marvelous experience. Yuska
You're right Yuska. I remember standing on the edge of the quarry and looking in at all those flowers. I told my husband. " Hey this is a great idea. We could get a lot more growing space in our yard if we just dug a big hole like this and..." He just kind of walked away. Oh well. It was fun to imagine.:)
Fantastic! I'm assuming you've been to the wonderful gardens in Vancouver already. Stanley Park, etc...
We visited Butchart in June at the end of an Alaska inland passage cruise, and then went back in July with a group of Master Gardeners. The June visit was the best, with the roses in full bloom. I'll be interested to know what will be in bloom in March.
That whole area is just such a beautiful place. I even enjoyed the trees - that we don't have here.
There's a tropical place (under glass) on the way that is worth seeing, and the winery that has wine tasting and wonderful food, on the left side of the road to Butchart. Can't remember names right now.
And you have a wonderful camera and lens to take some awesome photos too.
I need to go back!!
Oh yes, CJ! I remember that scene. What year were you there?
CJ, I saw in an older thread in the photography board that you were considering purchasing a Canon SLR. Which camera did you end up getting?
I love my 30D. It just feels so "right" in my hands. I think I take it out just to fondle it when I haven't used it in a while. (Maybe camera nuts won't understand that statement. hehe)
Jo
2004. June and July. And Vancouver and Seattle, along with Bainbridge Island and the Little and Lewis place. And when Heronswood still existed in all its glory near Seattle. It was a trip to see gardens and we saw awesome places - private and public. There's the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden , VanDusen Botanical Garden, Queen Elizabeth Park, the UBC Botanical Garden and Nitobe Memorial Gardens at UBC, Stanley Park - all in Vancouver, BC! This is what heaven should be like for gardeners. IMHO
This visit inspired and instilled the love of gardening in my DH, who took the Master Gardener classes the following session. Before that, he hated any mention of anything to do with yard work.
Jo - I got the 30D also, and I love it!! And the 100-400mm lens... See, that's why I have to go back to Butchart. I took my photos with my first digital camera, a little Canon s100. Gosh, it was great little camera for a point and shoot.
Have you been to any of the gardens in Vancouver?
I've been to Queen Elizabeth, VanDusen, the botanicals at UBC, and Stanley Park. I also saw a lovely little Chinese garden in Chinatown, but I don't remember the name. I also spent three days at a little retreat house on Bowen Island, and just appreciated the "wild" beauty so much there. It was lovely. One of the nicest things was getting to know some of my daughters friends, and visiting their houses. Darn, one of the couples had the most gorgeous garden!
I also have some pretty funny pictures in all these gardens. When my daughter went to Vancouver to study, she took one of her youngest sister's stuffed "little lamb" with her. Well, little lamb has been on quite a few adventures, including a really funny photo wearing an iPod in Queen Elizabeth Park, and a meditation photo in the Chinese garden I visited. :)
Jo
With six kids, we're kind of a nutty family. :)
This Chinese garden isn't in Chinatown. I highly recommend it - it has quite a history. http://www.directadmedia.com/simonsees/dr_sun_yat_sen.html - video
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/ScholarGarden/tour/index.php3?usr=n5|true|true|eng#
The Japanese Garden is so very different from the Chinese garden. And also highly recommended. The path through it represents one's life and choices made.
http://www.nitobe.org/
The lamb photos sound really cute. It sounds like you have a fun family.
I knew there was a lot we didn't get to see. Now I know what it was. That's quite a list of gardens. I hope to go back some day.
So do I, silver, so do I....
When did you go, and where did you stay?
We went in 2003 and stayed one night in a little motel on the island where DH's friend lives, can't remember the name of it. One night we stayed in the (I think) Hyatt Renaissance. Or Hyatt Regency Renaissance or something like that. Very fancy place. That was a long delayed wedding present from DH's brother. I can't remember the other places we stayed. We were there a week. But it felt like one day. We went to the Vancouver aquarium too - really a fun place.
Well, I spent two weeks in Vancouver City with my daughter two years ago, but never made it to Vancouver Island and the gardens. I am so excited about going, but really, bulb season is my least favorite of all the bloom times. However, there's so much to see, I know I'm going to be thrilled anyway.
I've been to Holland when all the bulbs were blooming many years ago, and that was very beautiful. I guess since it's not something I can do here, I'm just not that interested in them, though.
You can't do bulbs in Sugarland? Why?
Too much work! LOL
So many bulbs need an extended period of cold weather to bloom well. I had daffodils here in this yard that a previous owner had planted, and they didn't really bloom - no matter what I did.
Hmmmmm. Dmj has lots of bulbs. Are you that much different from her?
This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 7:56 AM
Hmmmm...I guess I'll have to talk to her and find out which bulbs she is growing!
Thanks.
Jo
The only bulbs that rebloom here are Dutch iris. Apparently the freezes we get for winter chill don't last long enough or penetrate deep enough to reach the bulbs and complete the dormancy. Yuska
I'm glad my bulbs don't read--lol
=)
ROFLOL DMJ That was one funny answer!
Apparently, my bulbs are smarter than yours! They know they need more cold weather.
:
So, which bulbs do you have? And you don't have to stick them in the fridge or freezer during the winter? Lucky you! I would like having a couple of little patches in my garden - just not a whole lot.
Jo
Well they are smart enough to put my kid through one of our fine Texas institutions of higher learning and to get me out of the commuting "rat race". ;)
I need some smarts like that! :)
Jo
I grow all kinds of bulbs. I don't do tulips because they are annuals here - way too much work, and the hyacinths tend to loosen up after the first year. But I've grown lots of others.
You need to get A Gardener's Guide to Growing Bulbs on the Gulf Coast, by Sally McQueen Squire. 1998. River Bend Publishing Company. Spiral bound paperback. 114 pages. I have the older version (1978, printed 1991), and it has been my bible for bulbs.
Tulipa clusiana naturalizes quite well down here.
Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden is a good beginner's bulb book:
http://davesgarden.com/products/gbw/c/168/
and Thad Howard's Bulbs for Warm Climates is a bit better for differentiating different species:
http://davesgarden.com/products/gbw/c/9/
This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 6:18 PM
Ogden's book is good reading, but it doesn't give the basic how deep to plant, when to fertilize, etc details of Squire's book. It has more history and flowing descriptions. I use them both.