jwg

The first organized thing we did while in Cape Town was to visit the Kirstenbosch Gardens

Various animals were wandering around:

And a view of Table Mountain with a cloud spilling off it.

A detailed description of the Table Mountain Geology:
( Click here for a detailed description of the Table Mountain Geology )

A highlight of the first day on the train was a trip to a Rose Plantation / Factory. The company is called Rosadex and they grow, package, and export roses all over the world - to at least 48 countries. They explained that this is an excellent place to grow roses because it is equitorial - good sunny weather with equal length days all year, and because the sun is directly overhead most of the time it helps the roses grow straight up. And the place also serves food, has a chapel, and I think people can stay there overnight.

Click for pictures:

We had a nice visit to one of the several public gardens in Melbourne (all the Australian Cities had them) - this one was the Fitzroy Gardens. Among other things it had a nice Conservatory.

Click here for pictures:

We went to visit the Biltmore Estate while we were in Asheville. On a 8,000 acre site, George Vanderbilt (of the Vanderbilt family) built a 150 room house and had a magnificent set of gardens design by Fredrick Law Ohmsted. We took the audio tour which was well worth it since there is lots of information that you wouldn't get otherwise (44 short descriptions + about 15 more extra details about the rooms, the society, the way of life, and other details). We saw only about 30 rooms - among others the library filled with books, several dining rooms, George's and his wife's bedrooms, some guest rooms, the kitchen and pantries, some servants rooms, the gym, pool, and bowling alley. It took about 2 hours. You weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house and I didn't although I was tempted to take a picture of the wonderful antique rowing machine in the gym.
It looked like this:

After lunch we spent about 2 hours in the gardens. The conservatory was chock full of blooming plants, and there were various flower and shrub gardens as well.

You can also go to Antler Village (a relatively new addition) and do wine tasting and see a museum among other things.

Click here for some pictures

We planted some Tigridia this year; It was at the end of June we did it and for a while we thought they wouldn't bloom. But they started a couple of weeks ago. The flower only lasts for 1 day. At first we thought they'd all be yellow but today we got some other colors; maybe there will be more vairety - buds are still forming. Instructions about wintering are contradictory; we'll mulch.

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) is an invasive weed that has been pretty successful in its establishment on our front lawn/meadow. Once there was just one of them and I kind of liked its flowers and appearance - big mistake! I've been at war with it this spring/summer digging it up.

It looks like this now except that it is embedded in the grass.

Sometimes it just pulls up but usually I need an asparagus knife to dig it up since it's root is pretty solid. This tool is supposedly used to scrape asparagus stems, however I suspect that it is only used as a weeder - and a good one at that. I also used it to dig up some plantains and dandelions today.

It was three weeks ago and I only posted a sunset picture.

Guana Island is a fancy resort in the British Virgin Islands. It's a private island near the airport on Tortola. The island is 800 acres and there is just this one hotel with at most 30 guests. The main beach has this fine white sand with coral reefs for good snorkeling. You go up a hill to where the main house and other houses are - there is a 250 ft peak and an 800 one, too as well as about other beaches reachable by trails or boat. It is operated as a nature preserve as well; they reintroduced Caribbean Iguanas and there are a few hundred on the island. Down on the flat land behind the beach is a salt pond with 6 bermuda flamingos (too small for them to breed), a croquet field, two tennis courts, two donkeys (whose predecessors used to be transportation up the hill), and an elaborate garden with lots of edible fruits. In October they host scientists month for researchers to do various studies.

The food is good, the other guests are always congenial. You eat family style, there's a cocktail hour with a do-it-yourself bar, there's lots of socializing, and it feels like a house party. We tend to go there two out of three years in early March and see some of the same people each time. We think this was our 18th trip there. I characterize the place as one where there is nothing to do and not enough time to do it. There are lots of diving pelicans at the beach and I always find it mesmerizing to watch them. We've stayed in the same room the past several times and one of its features is a lovely porch for viewing the sunset - seen here: . Our timing this year was perfect since we left early on March 1 just as it was beginning to snow.

( Some Wild Life )

As I've mentioned before, I'm not too good (or interested) in identifying birds by books. Yesterday while having cocktails on the porch, we saw a strange bird in a tree - it looked a bit like a young feathery duck but probably was something else. I went to check to see how old my bird books were. My Peterson (my mother's) is a 1947 and as we all know birds these days are completely different. Then I rummaged through this bookcase of old books and found this gem: Our Mountain Garden by Mrs. Theodore Thomas. It's copyright date is 1904!

Here is a bit of Chapter IX: Conclusion

And so I counsel all who have a bit of ground, be it small or large, to start thereon a garden, without waiting for horticultural knowledge or instruction. Begin as I did, with a wheelbarrow full of black-eyed Susans; you have no idea to what charming acquaintances the Susans will introduce you! And above all, I advise you to do the work yourself as far as your physical strength allows. Dig an plant, week and water, cultivate and prune, and haul your little cart of tools up hill and down dale, all wit your own hands. It is astonishing how weak muscles will strengthen, pale cheeks turn rosy, stiff joints grow limber, and clogged lungs open themselves again to deep breaths of fresh air. But I must own that one cannot do this sort of work in fine raiment All one's clothing must be loose and light and washable. I wear a short skirt of heavy gingham, an ordinary shirt-waist, calfskin shoes with broad soles and low heels, a shade hat, and gloves of my own invention, which are the only kind I have found which thoroughly protect the hands. ...

My mother followed this approach - it wasn't one of her first books since she started gardening in ~1951 and here is the sales slip that I found in the book. Although the slip says Fresno, Calif I suspect it was from used bookstore in downtown NYC and you do see that the address has been replaced.

On Sunday (the 19th if I have my days right) we visited the Gamble Garden in Palo Alto. It had a mixture of formal and informal gardens with vegetables and flowers and several buildings (which were closed to the public because it was Sunday). The Rose garden was a bit past it, but there were lots of beautiful flowers.

We were sitting under this tree after most of us were finished looking at the garden

( some flowers )

( As you can see, other people took pictures of flowers )

( Another garden )

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Entries tagged with gardens

Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town

Visit to the Rose Plantation / Factory

Melbourne Fitzroy Gardens

Biltmore Estate

Tigridia

Spotted Knapweed - blech!

Our trip to Guana Island

Identifying birds via books

The Gamble Garden in Palo Alto

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