I Love Longwood, Again

     In conjunction with attending last October's Perennial Plant Conference, two coworkers and I were able to visit Chanticleer, and Longwood Gardens - twice. On the night before the conference we went to see Longwood's Nightscape, which is a state of the art combination of original music, color, animation, and movement - all projected onto the garden's plants. You will have to take my word for how spectacular it was, as I was unable to capture any of the video due to exhausted batteries. It was worth every penny of the $27 price of admission. Two days later on the way back to Virginia, we stopped by again for a more traditional visit; neither of my coworkers had ever seen Longwood in the daylight. I was uncharacteristically conservative with my photography, but what follows is some of what we saw.

     Helenium

     Gomphrena, maybe 'Fireworks'

      Hibiscus 'Fith Dimension'

     Sarracenia

     The next three photos were taken in Longwood's Theatre Garden.

     I took this photo in their Idea Garden, and I got the idea that I really like this combination of colors. 

     Being fall, garden mums had a huge presence in the plantings along their Flower Garden Walk, which is always a must-see for me. I had to fight the urge to run jump into these great big bosomy pink mums.

     I have never been a fan of rainbow color schemes in garden design. Nonetheless, I had a hard time pulling myself from the a large display of assorted Dahlia.

     Unrelated to Longwood, there is about a week left for bloggers to enter my annual Winter Walk-Off. Click here for details.

I Love Chanticleer, Again

     Last October, I found myself falling in love with Chanticleer all over again. This was my fourth visit, and I am not going to say it was my favorite visit, because I would also say that about trips 1, 2, and 3. This was, however, my first time in the rain, though not visit-cancelling rain. It was sporadic enough to just keep your umbrella handy, but not always open, and light enough to enhance photography - and I took a lot of photos, so I'd recommend loading up your pixel hopper before going any further.

     Front Entrance

     One of my favorite spots at Chanticleer is always the Teacup Garden, and I like that the gardeners get to change it from year to year. This fall the colors seemed sullen, in an attractive way. I was really smitten with how the raindrops beaded on the Euphorbia cotinifolia, and how the variegated Asclepias curassavica played so well with the grass, which I think was Nassella tenuissima. 

     Not sullen, the Cutting Garden was full of color, and being late in the season it towered over our heads.

     Ruin Garden

     Gravel Garden

     Salvia 'Limelight'

     Colchicum

     Chanticleer House Garden

     This terrace sits at one end of Chanticleer House, and overlooks a large lawn and the gardens beyond. As a gardener, I can imagine ending my day sitting here watching the day turn to dusk, cool drink in hand.

     If you would like to see the remainder of my photos from this trip, please visit my Flickr page, and you can also see previous Chanticleer blog posts from 2016 here, and from 2011 here. Currently I am hosting my annual Winter Walk-Off, and I invite all of my fellow bloggers to participate.

Summer Color III

     This is the final post in a series showing some of what my team created at the Norfolk Botanical Garden last summer. A canal bisects the garden nearly in half, and there are three bridges that get visitors from one side to the other. During the warmer months we hang hay rack planters from two of the bridges, which are filled with annuals. By NATO Bridge we opted for simplicity, and used a combination of just three plants; Asparagus densiflorus 'Myersii', Plectranthus amboinicus 'Variegatus' (Variegated Cuban Oregano), and one of the geraniums (Pelargonium) from the Caliente series, but I can't remember exactly which color.

     For Rose Garden Bridge we wanted a color combination that would be vaguely patriotic, so I could put flags in it for Independence Day and Labor Day. We also wanted it to look good with the surrounding crapemyrtles as a backdrop. However, we did not limit the palette to just three plants. The baskets included blue lyme grass (Leymus arenarius), Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost', Pentas 'Butterfly Red', Evolvulus 'Blue Daze', Dichondra 'Silver Falls', and pink and white Mandevilla.

     The summer before last we created three wall mounted succulent planters that were framed so as to resemble a gallery. While we liked what was created, we wanted improvements for this past summer. One of our talented facilities workers beefed up the frames, made them easier to water, and built two of the planters from scratch. We also switched the frame color from gold to one that complimented the plants better. I think our visitors liked it as well; it became a traffic hazard with so many taking their photos in front of them.

     I started this series back in early February in response to the gray and cold outside. We don't really need it now, as the temperatures have made it feel like we have skipped March and April, and jumped right into May. In the past week or so the local landscape has blossomed into spring with daffodils, magnolias, and the early cherries coming into full bloom. It definitely feels like winter has left the building, but I am not sure the door is locked just yet.

(If you are interested, and I hope that you are, there is still time to join my Winter Walk-Off challenge which ends at midnight on the 19th.)