VanDusen Botanical Garden

Hi again! We had some family business in Seattle last week and took the opportunity to make an overnight trip to Vancouver. We stopped at VanDusen on the way back. Here are some pictures.



Dogwoods are the big thing now in the Pacific Northwest.



We saw them everywhere.





The cashier thought the rose garden was the best thing in the garden right now, but I thought it was the delphinium beds.









I mean, I can see roses anywhere. But where else could I find this?







Really, a planting like this would be frowned upon in thirsty California.



You can enjoy it guilt-free in Canada.







Too much flower power for you? How about some sculpture.







I love all the modern stuff but, for me, this bust of Linnaeus wins. Would it be really great or really pretentious to have a bust of Linnaeus in my garden? IT WOULD BE GREAT.



What about this one?



Oh my gosh, you guys. It's a pretty well-hung...Minotaur?



Where there's a Minotaur, there must be a maze*. I love the monkey puzzle tree in the center (Araucaria araucana. I have to look up the spelling of Araucaria araucana every time.)



*The garden signs and pamphlets all called it a maze, not a labyrinth.  Deal with it, people. Anyway, it was a good one. Guy beat me to the center. You can always find your way through a maze if you keep to the wall on your right (or left). Which is what I did. Well, you will get through, but it slows you down.







We caught the last of the Meconopsis. Not sure which Meconopsis.



How do you feel about yellow foliage? Guy is against it. He thinks yellow plants look over-watered and diseased or something.



We all have our issues. Please recall my feelings about red+yellow. (Don't do it!



Unless the red is dark maybe, or the yellow is green.)



We're almost done with this visit. I want to include this picture:



And this one:



And this one (because I like a gravel bed):



I wanted to say something about this gravel road to the veg garden,



but I'm not sure what. I think I'm just going to let it go for now. "Here is how they handled the path to the vegetable garden." Maybe I'll try to develop my thoughts later.



And I want to end here, with this. Ladies and gentlmen, Blue Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens 'glauca'.



I don't know much about it. Of all my garden books, Sunset Western Garden has the most to say about blue cultivars, but I'll quote the Bornstein, Fross, O'Brien book:

"Natural variability has produced several distinct and handsome coast redwoods that have been reproduced clonally. Two clonal selections were made primarily for foliage color and growth habit..." 

They go on to discuss 'Aptos Blue' and 'Soquel'. No mention of 'glauca'.



Well, I love it.

Return to the Ruth Bancroft Garden

Tap, tap, tap... does this still work? Burning question: How long are you "a blogger" for, after the last time you blogged? What is a "blogger", anyway? Well, regardless, here are some pictures I took today, at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

This one is my favorite.





I love to see purple and red in a garden. Especially in a dry garden.





















This one is my 2nd favorite. The iPhone version came out with better focus and composition.



(How many pictures have I taken of Guy sitting in a garden with his phone? Note-to-self: Idea for future blog post! The received wisdom in our relationship is that I am the one who is obsessed with his phone. Yet I have all these pictures that indicate something else...)











Exfoliating manzanita bark! So best.



I was feeling like the overall population of California natives appears to have gone down in this garden somewhat since my last visit, whenever that was. Lots  of renovation going on in the part of the garden that contained them. Gardens are dynamic places. Lots of native buckwheat here:



and here. That yellow one below is Eriogonum crocatum. Rarely in nurseries (hard to germinate, I recall being told), but they have it here. I bought two.