A thread for sharing photos of gardens you like, ones you visit or your very own.

[KittyAnn]

I heard Kitty say something about the garden we saw in Arundel...













In the greenhouse





Although I have many pictures, I cannot show you the most beautiful flower I saw in there.  

awesome that you have published some photos from Arundel ... I can't find my pictures but I remember wonderful photos from the greenhouse of such dark flowers ... they probably grew on a tree or bush ...they were wonderful ... I think I'm going to cry.. i want my pics back

[pocaracas]

awesome that you have published some photos from Arundel ... I can't find my pictures but I remember wonderful photos from the greenhouse of such dark flowers ... they probably grew on a tree or bush ...they were wonderful ... I think I'm going to cry.. i want my pics back

Just yesterday, I uploaded all the photos I have to an album I shared with you


Are these the ones you meant?









I remember you sitting on that hanging branch  of the tree...    

[KittyAnn]

awesome that you have published some photos from Arundel ... I can't find my pictures but I remember wonderful photos from the greenhouse of such dark flowers ... they probably grew on a tree or bush ...they were wonderful ... I think I'm going to cry.. i want my pics back

Just yesterday, I uploaded all the photos I have to an album I shared with you

Are these the ones you meant?

Yes ... that's it thank you anyway, I have your photos, but mine was a bit different ... and everyone is looking at the same things a little differently  .. anyway I still hope that I will find my photos

[Mark]

I heard Kitty say something about the garden we saw in Arundel...


Although I have many pictures, I cannot show you the most beautiful flower I saw in there.  

But have you seen it?  

[Mark]

Are these the ones you meant?

That looks like Zwartkop, a selection of Aeonium arborium which means "Black head" in whatever European language -other that English- that they speak in South Africa, Dutch maybe?  I am happy to grow that and several other aeoniums because my climate is exactly what they want, always fairly mild and not too hot.  This is the same aeonium growing in my garden in photo where the light did some fun things.



In flat light they do look almost black.



But they can look almost red when backlit.




This one is another selection of the same Aeonium species which varies widely from seed, much like apples.  This one is called Thundercloud.  It is completely green in winter as seen here:



But it colors up to nearly the same shade of deep purple as Zwartkop by late summer, going through some interesting transitional color phases along the way.



Thundercloud backlit.




Another selection called 'Cyclops' has huge heads and flowers, seen here with my old dog Fletcher. I removed Cyclops a number of years ago and replaced it with 'Thundercloud' when I saw it at a nursery. Both were planted in a small raised bed formed by using small scalloped tree circle blocks.



The flowers bloom again and again on top of old flowers giving this weird tracer effect.



A detail showing the way the flowers are arranged.

[pocaracas]

Are these the ones you meant?

That looks like Zwartkop, a selection of Aeonium arborium which means "Black head" in whatever European language -other that English- that they speak in South Africa, Dutch maybe?  I am happy to grow that and several other aeoniums because my climate is exactly what they want, always fairly mild and not too hot.  This is the same aeonium growing in my garden in photo where the light did some fun things.

Yep, that's exactly it!
And it is Dutch that they speak in South Africa.


The first time I saw these aeoniums was in Madeira:




These we call Princess Earrings

[Mark]

The first time I saw these aeoniums was in Madeira:

Madeira is right up there at the top of my list of places I most want to go, as you know.  That last photo of the maze garden reminds me how much Lia liked this maze at Glendurgen near Cornwall back in 2008.  Interestingly, you could see all around you in this maze but it didn't help you that much in finding your way to the hut or back.












When we went to Vancouver this past fall I found another maze that was much taller from which it would not have been possible to see anything but where you are.  Unfortunately my battery was dying and I was eager to get as many photos as possible at the VanDusan Botanical garden.  I will definitely go there again and bring a personal charger next time.

[Mark]

Time to share another garden.  Going with the largest estate garden near me in northern California, Filoli.  The formal gardens (and house) were constructed a hundred years ago on 16 acres within a 654 acre estate, 25 miles south of San Francisco.  

The gardens are well tended by an army of gardeners and every year they plant tens of thousands of tulips anew, discarding those from the previous year.  So spring is definitely the time to go.  Formal gardens aren't the sort I aspire to make but I can certainly appreciate the spectacle they achieve.  Here are some of my favorite photos from over the last several years.

[Mark]

Okay, going to give this thread a bump to maybe get it moving again.  Two years ago this coming April my garden was part of a Garden Conservancy open day for the first (and so far, only) time.  Had a ton of visitors and had a pretty good time.  Did all the clean up and prep myself.  Mine is a pretty good sized garden and I don't think I'd ever gotten the entire thing prepped at one time before.  The next morning I walked around and took some photos of which these are probably the best.

This first is at the end of our driveway where the side garden meets the back garden.  The back garden is older (20+ years) and has undergone more revisions to make it more developed.  I'll put the rest under a spoiler tag for those with slow online service.

Show ContentSpoiler:

The rest are taken in the side garden.

[skyking]

My garden is stuck in the grips of a cold spell and too much snow. My black bamboo is laid low with the weight of it. Yesterday Russ would not come when I called him. I thought he had escaped the fence and gone on an adventure. Soon I spotted him through a gap in the bowed bamboo. He was running around under the hedge of it, like a rodent under the grassy fields. I am sure there were rodents under there to pursue.

[Mark]

If he is the Russel there may well have been rodents in there. Past tense.

[Dom]

Spring has sprung! My Magnolia shrub:




Redbud getting ready to bud:




Some Daffodils:

[Mark]

I just heard there is a new three part Monty Don garden visit series on BBC 2, which I don't have access to.  Fortunately they do have the first episode available on youtube already from just last week.  Pretty damned generous I call it.  Anyhow Brit's talking about some gardens of note on our side of the pond should be good.  @Alan V, this episode is centered in the north east and includes Longwood and Chanticleer as well as lots in NYC, Long Island and New Jersey.  Some places get more attention than others of course.  I've found a few other garden bits of interest that I'll post before long, memory willing.