6/16/14

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.

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Dogwoods are the big thing now in the Pacific Northwest.

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We saw them everywhere.

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

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

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

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You can enjoy it guilt-free in Canada.

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

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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.

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What about this one?

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

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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.)

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*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.

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

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

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

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

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

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And this one:

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

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

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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.

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

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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'.

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Well, I love it.












5 comments:

Jean Campbell said...

It is the curves in the gravel road that make it pleasing.

Thank you for this marvelous tour.

Anonymous said...

That's an amazing delphinium garden. And quite a redwood specimen, too.

I think Guy has a point about yellow grasses. Yellow foliage on other plants seems like less of an issue to me. I don't much care for red foliage on most grasses either, for the same reason.

LostRoses said...

Guiltless delphiniums, yes. Ha ha, love the gravel road comment! And I'm with Guy on the yellow too. I was just complaining the other day about a yellow honey locust in my husband's yard. Hate it.

Kristi said...

The delphinium beds are amazing! I think every city has some form of a rose garden snooze. Give me a delphinium bed any day. Now I'm off to figure out where I can put an autonomically correct minotaur in my yard.

Les said...

I am glad you are among the blogging again. I love Araucaria, but somehow managed to kill mine, and it was not cheap. I found it an interesting reward for reaching the center of the maze/labyrinth. Not exactly a tree you would want to hug in celebration.