A private garden in Seattle, Washington
Most gardens are very private. Unlike TheGardenLady’s garden whose garden is in the front of the house for all to see, with the back yard being more natural and tranquil, most gardens are only seen by the owners and their guests. It is exciting to get invited into a private garden to see what their garden is like. So here are some photos of a private garden in Seattle.
  Back Gate
         Back 40
    Camus & Pac Coast Iris
Clematis
Front Door Garden
Lenton Rose
Oregon Grape and Huckleberry
Side Rock Garden
Wisteria and Two Maples
Readers of  TheGardenLady would love to see photos of your private garden. Please share your photos with us.
Camping and Caravanning to See Gardens
The Hidden Gardens of Bury St Edmunds 19-06-2011 by Karen Roe
This Garden Lady loves to visit gardens in the US and around the world. This was on my “bucket list” from my childhood before that term became popular. And as I aged I have visited these places and check off all the spots I have seen. My most recent trip was to see the gardens in Ireland. Though I now am able to travel comfortably in my senior years, I wasn’t always able to afford to indulge my dream so comfortably, but that didn’t stop me.
As a child growing up, rather isolated in a small farming village, I always dreamed of traveling the world. One school teacher I had fed that interest by reading or telling the class stories of exciting travel adventures. My neighbor’s daughter became a teacher so that she could then teach around the globe. She would write home to her parents when she traveled, telling about her experiences abroad. Her mother would come to our house to read these letters. Thus I decided that was what I would do when I grew up; I wanted to travel and see all the world had to offer. But I was a poor child so I had to wait.
I held onto that dream when I got married and my husband knew of my desires. He was a graduate student at that time so once again there was little money to see the world. But he was determined to make me happy.
Dubai Miracle Garden
The Huffington Post had an article about one of the world’s least known most impressive gardens of the world. The flowers look like annuals. So, if you are going to Dubai soon, don’t forget to visit the Dubai Miracle Garden.
Gardens to see spring bulbs in bloom
MARCH BANK WINTERTHUR by PHOTOPHANATIC1
It is still a little too early for many spring bulbs to be blooming in TheGardenLady’s garden. In a few more days, flowers will seriously start showing off. The buds on my daffodils are ready to open- one already did. I can see some hyacinths forcing their flowers out of the leaf bases. One gets a little impatient waiting.
If you enjoy seeing masses of spring bulbs in bloom outdoors, there are wonderful gardens that one can visit.
Winterthur in Deleware is a wonderful place to see early spring bulbs in bloom. This is the week is when their March Bank is especially lovely. What they refer to as the March Bank is the oldest surviving garden area at Winterthur. H.F. DuPont, the owner of the estate, began naturalizing daffodils on this rolling hill in the early 1900s and “by the 1940s had planted thousands of snowdrops, snowflakes, crocus, squills, and glory-of-the-snow.”
More Beautiful Gardens: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, Narangestan Gardens and Monet’s Garden
Shiraz Naranjestan Garden (Bagh-e Naranjestan) by R. J. Witonsky
There are so many gardens that this GardenLady loves that I could continue writing about gardens to visit that I have visited or I would love to visit for many posts. Recently, TheGardenLady has written about gardens including Butchart Gardens, the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Stourhead, Saihojo and Keukenhof. Let me know if readers of TheGardenLady blog want me to continue mentioning extraordinary gardens. And by all means, TheGardenLady and the readers of this blog would love to hear about gardens you know and love.
One garden that TheGardenLady and her children visited is the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Seal Hrobor, Maine. Because it is still used as a private home, the gardens are only open a few days a year. So if you know that you wilI be visiting Seal Harbor in the summer when the gardens are open, by all means try to get reservations. (see here)  There are a few other wonderful Rockefeller gardens that you can visit when you are in this area. (see here)
Three Beautiful Gardens: Stourhead, Saihojo and Keukenhof
stourhead by pshab
This post is about two other wonderful gardens from two countries that love their gardens that TheGardenLady has visited and one garden I dream of visiting.
One can spend a lifetime visiting all the fabulous gardens of England. England has got to be a or the gardeners’ paradise. I will mention other English gardens in other posts.
The first garden is really a landscape garden in England. This is a park that has all the dreamy vistas that anyone could wish for and you can also get delicious scones with clotted cream in the park. This garden is Stourhead, a landscape garden that is said to have transformed forever the way gardens were made.
Since this is a landscape garden try to visit when the rhododendrons are in bloom to see flowers. It is such a romantic location, one of the movie versions of Pride and Prejudice was filmed here.
Continue reading “Three Beautiful Gardens: Stourhead, Saihojo and Keukenhof”
Butchart Gardens and the Garden of Cosmic Speculation
Jumping Bridge by Paulus Maximus!
In this GardenLady’s mind there is nothing more wonderful than a garden. Whether the plants used in a garden are common varieties or exotic varieties, whether the garden is large or small like a terrarium, it does not matter. Each garden is created by an artist and every garden is artistic. Gardens can be spring, summer, fall or even winter gardens- gardens change seasonally and yearly- they never remain the same or static. The gardener is a magician in what he or she accomplishes.
The dream I have is to visit every major garden in the world as well as many minor ones. To that end, TheGardenLady has visited many gardens around the world, but she has not visited all the gardens- I wish, I wish….
Which garden is the most magical? The one I am seeing at that moment.
Continue reading “Butchart Gardens and the Garden of Cosmic Speculation”
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in Cape Town
Lynn who is a Peace Corps Volunteer stationed in Mmathethe, Botswana in Africa recently visited Cape Town, South Africa with a group of other Peace Corps volunteers. She visited Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in Cape Town that TheGardenLady has dreamed of visiting. Here is what she wrote about the visit. PS You will see Lynn in one of the photos.
I ventured to Cape Town, with one of the highlights of my week being my day at the world famous Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens. Â The gardens, which are nestled at the foot of Table Top Mountain and Devil’s Mountain, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, and I believe, it is the only botanical garden in the world that has this fame. Â It is renowned for the beauty and diversity of indigenous plants, and along with its location, it makes for the most stunning gardens in the world.
Planting in Wind Swept Areas
Wind Swept by druss101
TheGardenLady received this question from Joyce.
I have a small garden bed at the front of my house. It gets the sun in the morning only, and it’s very opened to the wind. Could you recommend any plants I could get to make it nice and colorful.
Wind swept areas are difficult planting areas. The wind not only batters many plants but windy areas will experience drier soil conditions. But for anyone to give you answers to what might grow in your garden, you really have to provide more information.