The Elizabethan Garden

One of the attractions in Manteo, on historic Roanoke Island is the Elizabethan Garden. It was built to be a living memorial to Sir Walter Scott and the lost colony.  Since Queen Elizabeth I was in power then, it was built in the style of the gardens built to entertain her. Because I love to visit gardens, I couldn't wait to visit this one. Finally I caught a pretty afternoon and went.

Entrance is through the gift shop

I bought my ticket and stepped out the door and was immediately taken aback. In the small water feature in front of me were at least four invasives, water hyacinth, water lettuce, parrot feather, and elephant's ear. (I did come home and write the director, citing the North Carolina information on these plants,  and got a nice reply that they are considering a review of all their plants, with the idea of removing some of them. )

A few of the invasive plants

The garden is mostly a shade garden, growing under big oaks and pines with lots of understory plants. Azaleas and camellias were blooming, although most bushes were nearing the end of their bloom. A few impatiens and a few roses were also sporadically blooming. The garden has lots of hydrangeas, and must be really beautiful when they are in full bloom. The mostly green was very soothing and I enjoyed seeing the bones of the garden.

The view looking up

Where it was a little sunnier, tall pines grew.

A shot down a path between tall hedges to a pine

Instead of big vistas - there were none - I got lost in the beauty and mystery of camellias, azaleas, and roses.

Touch of pink

One of the "in you face" camelias 

Christmas colors

Beautybush

Candy cane camelia?

Largest statue honoring Queen Elizabeth I

A very blowsy rose still blooming the the tiny rose garden

I think this is some kind of hydrangea

Birds were singularly absent - but I did manage to catch this cardinal

The garden ends at the water

I loved this reproduction of a period gazebo

Double white camellia

Azalea twins

A view of the fountain in the very formal sunken garden

Grass catching sunlight

Another pair of white camellias

A view over part of the gardens around the gift shop

Holly berries on a huge American holly tree

The garden is all dressed up for Christmas.  You have to buy a different ticket to enjoy it at night and I didn't think it was worth it. But I did enjoy the few hours I spent there, one partly sunny afternoon. 

Christmas Flowers

One of my gripes about gardening in the south is that I can't grow tomatoes and lettuce at the same time or have fresh dill in the summer. I can, however, have it with fresh broccoli in the winter.

But the really excellent part of gardening down here,  is that we can have something blooming every month of the year. Right now calendulas, some roses,  camillas, panseys, violas, fragrant stocks, dianthas, petunias, snapdragons, and cyclamens, all brighten our often cloudy days.

One of several colors of stocks being tested

Violas with dog faces

Earlier,  Maria took me over to the camellia garden at the LSU Research Station in Hammond. I wanted to go back to photograph the beautiful camellias blooming on huge, old bushes. So the morning after a front had come through giving us high winds and rain, and while it was still cloudy, I spent several hours at the Research Station.  Within moments, I was totally engrossed. There are over 100 shrubs in this garden and include camellias that bloom from fall to spring. Many bushes were days to weeks away from starting to bloom, while others had only a few blooms amidst the numerous buds. Still others were in full bloom or were already scattering the blossoms on the ground. (Camillias often drop the entire flower and I found many laying on the ground,  still looking fresh enough to take home.) It was too cold for bees to be working, but on my earlier visit, lots of bees  were harvesting nectar and honey and a few butterflies were helping them.

This looked pretty fresh but had already fallen

 Across the street, is the main part of the research station.  It is a vast field with islands of beds.  I ran out of time before I explored it all.  Must of the plants are in a dormant state but the azaleas were starting to bloom and some beds held bedding plants that were being tested.  I heard they have a demonstration native plant garden but didn't have time to locate it. I just walked through the several acres of azalea beds. The azaleas were mostly growing their buds.  They will be at peak bloom in February -March. But a few varieties were blooming.

The research plants are planted in a landscape situation and there are benches and this gazebo near a large, kidney-shaped pond.

Closeup of some of the  blooming double azeleas

I like the singles best

Another variety of azalea

A single fruit tree bloom, probably due to temperatures in the 70-80s

The research station property has some pines scattered around, several huge live oaks, and other hardwoods. This southern magnolia must be close to champion size. It is growing in full sunlight so has been able to grow branches from the ground up.

A southern magnolia, growing in full sun - almost champion size

A view across some of the beds to the pine trees along the road

Winter Visit to the Mendocino Coast Botantical Garden

When I checked the parks and gardens near where I was in Fort Bragg, CA on my visit to the coast, I found I was very near a botanical garden,  I love them and often visit them with my friend, Natalie.  Last year we even took a vacation to visit several gardens including the Missouri Botanical Garden, a  definite must-see one.

As soon as I entered the parking lot, I was immediately blown away by the landscaping. Even in winter, there was lots of excitement and textural interest from mostly grasses and shrubs. A few  shrubs were blooming wildly. I decided it was probably worth a few hours of my time to visit the garden proper.  I took my little camera and immediately started taking pictures. After several minutes, I got to the entrance and paid $10 for my ticket to visit.

The docent gave me a map of the gardens and told me that they have collections of camellias, rhododendrons, including tender scented ones from cloud forests, old hybrid ones, and a collection of ones that grow well locally.  Other collections include the heath/heather collection, fuchsias, dahlias, begonias, native plants and a vegetable garden/orchid. They also have a wonderful little nursery with lots of different plants to sell.  And the grounds themselves are a wonderful mix of forest, coastal plain, and formal gardens. 

These pictures were taken in the parking lot.

The original forested area has been left and enhanced with understory shrubs and ferns. It makes for a serene time on this trail.

The rhododendron garden is in the shade of trees as well as out in the open more. Only a few of them had any blooms.

 

 
 I was totally blown away by the heather garden. I kept coming back from different angles and falling in love and lust all over again. The landscaping is just so perfect with the color combinations and the soft mounds undulating through the garden. And I loved the subtle changes in textures here.

 

There is a lot of sculptures in the garden. They are all for sale.

The Garden is currently building a conifer collection. I loved these "candles".

 

This garden is famous for it's Camilla collections.  Right now, that beauty is only a promise.

They have a wonderful succulent garden here. I was totally unable to do it justice.

And the perennial garden is also totally off the wall.

The overriding theme of this garden was texture.  It was everywhere I looked. Almost no plants were alone but with plants that complemented their color and texture.

Another important collection is their fuchsias.  I was wowed by a shrub at least three and a half feet high and five feet across. There were many other large fuchsias there.  Obviously the ones I use to buy in the fall and throw out in the spring were babies struggling for life in a hostile environment.

 I was charmed by the children's garden. These eggs, big enough to hold a two year old human hatchling, were my favorites, but they had a native teepee, a sandbox, and a place to hunt for dragonflies among other fun places to be.

I heard and saw robins all day but this one plopped down on a bench just in front of me and posed.  So I had to take his picture.  Over 150 species have been documented here.

This little garden shed was also charming. It is near the vegetable garden and apple orchid. The original owners grew apples and potatoes here. The garden was mostly dormant but had some beautiful greens growing. And the texture theme is carried out here as well.

After you walk out through the forest, you come to the coastal plain and get to see this view.  I could have stayed here for hours watching the waves.  In fact, I shot bursts of the waves coming in to catch the best sprays.  Then I spent more hours deleting most of them.

Here is the map of the gardens. Notice the different habitats here. The original backbone of the land is intact and helps set the structure of the garden. And many of the changes to the land are from many years ago, so appear part of the normal California flora.

I ended up staying here until the garden closed at 4:30P.  I'm definitely going back just before I leave to get another garden fix. I ran two cameras out of batteries and want to go back with my macro lens for better pictures. And I'm advising that this garden should be on your top 100 gardens to visit before you die.

The staff are also starting a collections of plants native to this area of California. This will be a great resource to people wanting to grow natives and for people wanting to learn the names of the plants they see in the natural areas.

 
And there's MORE!  This is a great whale watching site and should be wonderful in February.