Sunday, May 31, 2015

Seahorse in Blossoms

What makes a great public garden 'great' is the scale and complexity of plantings, structures, paths and other garden elements in the landscape.  Winterthur has expansive naturalistic gardens that are considered the best in North America.  At the house are more structured formal gardens, designed by Marion Coffin.  The drifts of Azaleas and Rhododendrons frame the house in spring so that the formal and informal merge into a showcase display. At this time of year, the azaleas are reflected in the pond so that the seahorse is surrounded by pink waves.



 

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Handkerchiefs Falling from Trees

Dividia is a medium-sized deciduous tree, considered in the tulip or dogwood family.  What distinguishes it are the flowers - two huge white draping petals larger than your hand. Lying on the ground, the common name of handkerchief tree is clear.  Also known as dove tree as the petals look like dove wings.   So this one is on the grounds of Winterthur, at the porcelain museum display.  We were lucky to see it in bloom while visiting 2 weeks ago.

 

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Country Living

This is a moment where country living is wonderful. This is at the home of friends who live in Pennsylvania, quite close to Longwood.  Dezi is on the dock - we were watching the large fish swimming in the water, and she was wondering about how to chase them.  
Below are Irises that have fallen against the water - looking like there's a midnight sun.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Top Ten Things to Do

Longwood Gardens are known for their beautiful gardens, aren't they?  Well they are also known for their amazing public restrooms.  They won first prize in the Cintas' America's Best Restroom contest last year.  Any restroom in the United States that is open to the public is eligible.  So Longwood is on the list again this year, along with 9 other public restrooms.  Here's the description.

"The public restrooms at Longwood Gardens, the most visited public garden in America, deserve a double-take as you walk by. That’s because the 17 restrooms themselves are part of the largest indoor “Green Wall” in North America! The staff at Longwood worked with artist Kim Wilkie on an unprecedented feat of bathroom architecture. Take a look at the photos, and you’ll understand. Aside from the restrooms’ lush greenery, they also feature domed, naturally lit lavatory cabinets hidden within the “Green Wall.” In addition, each restroom contains etched translucent glass at the top of the dome to provide natural light, reduce electricity and minimize the need for light fixtures. Longwood Gardens traces its roots to the famed du Pont family and has become preeminent for its grand collection of plant life. Now, its restrooms also share in the spotlight. “The restrooms at Longwood have become a ‘must-see’ for our one million annual visitors, and we even have docents nearby to share the story of their creation,” says Patricia Evans, communications manager at Longwood Gardens. “To be named America’s Best Restroom would be a testament to our creativity and environmental stewardship.”

If you want to see the winners over the past years, go to this 'hall of fame' link:
http://www.bestrestroom.com/us/Hall_of_Fame/

Here's the link to see this year's nominees:
http://www.bestrestroom.com/us/vote.asp

 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Wisteria Starting in Niagara...

We haven't left Mother's Day yet.  We found out about Mother's Day in the US. It is very different from Mothering Day in England.  In England it is celebrated far earlier in the year.  From Wikipedia:

Mothering Sunday is a holiday celebrated by Catholic and Protestant Christians in some parts of Europe. It falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent (For Orthodox Christians in Europe and elsewhere, the fourth Sunday in Lent remembers St. John of the Ladder). Secularly, it became an occasion for honouring the mothers of children and giving them presents. 
During the sixteenth century, people returned to their mother church, the main church or cathedral of the area, for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday. This was either a large local church, or more often the nearest cathedral. Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering", although whether this term preceded the observance of Mothering Sunday is unclear. In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church, usually with their own mothers and other family members. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, since on other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours, and servants were not given free days on other occasions.
By the 1920s the custom of keeping Mothering Sunday had tended to lapse in Ireland and in continental Europe. In 1914, inspired by Anne Jarvis's efforts in the United States, Constance Penswick-Smith created the Mothering Sunday Movement, and in 1921 she wrote a book asking for the revival of the festival; Its widescale revival was through the influence of American and Canadian soldiers serving abroad during World War II ; the traditions of Mothering Sunday, still practised by the Church of England and Church of Ireland were merged with the newly imported traditions and celebrated in the wider Catholic and secular society. UK-based merchants saw the commercial opportunity in the holiday and relentlessly promoted it in the UK; by the 1950s, it was celebrated across all the UK.

The Wisteria are showing colour on Yates Street in St. Catharines so will be blooming in the 2 weeks.  

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Did Mother's Day Start Happy?

Did U.S. Mother's Day Start Happy?

We look into history today.  And what do we find? The official holiday’s founder Anna Jarvis boycotted the holiday. Jarvis, a native of West Virginia, organized the first Mother’s Day celebration at a church in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 in memory of her own mother, who died three years earlier. She successfully campaigned to have the day adopted nationally, but by the time of her death in 1948, Jarvis had spent most of her personal wealth fighting the holiday she helped conceive. She apparently found the commercialization of Mother’s Day deplorable and sued groups that used the name “Mother’s Day” name to promote consumerism. She even lobbied the government to remove it from the U.S.’ official calendar.

“Everything she signed was Anna Jarvis, Founder of Mother's Day. It was who she was," historian Katharine Antolini, author of “Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother's Day,” told National Geographic.

So much for a Romantic beginning!  Enjoy our day and the Niagara blossoms.  This orchard is on Highway 8 between Vineland and Beamsville.  It is the best white blossom orchard so far.  What makes it so is the distance between the trees and length of the rows so that the convergence happens at the end.  My name for this is "Blossom Heaven".

Did Mother's Day Start Happy?

Did U.S. Mother's Day Start Happy?

We look into history today.  And what do we find? The official holiday’s founder Anna Jarvis boycotted the holiday. Jarvis, a native of West Virginia, organized the first Mother’s Day celebration at a church in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 in memory of her own mother, who died three years earlier. She successfully campaigned to have the day adopted nationally, but by the time of her death in 1948, Jarvis had spent most of her personal wealth fighting the holiday she helped conceive. She apparently found the commercialization of Mother’s Day deplorable and sued groups that used the name “Mother’s Day” name to promote consumerism. She even lobbied the government to remove it from the U.S.’ official calendar.

“Everything she signed was Anna Jarvis, Founder of Mother's Day. It was who she was," historian Katharine Antolini, author of “Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother's Day,” told National Geographic.

So much for a Romantic beginning!  Enjoy our day and the Niagara blossoms.  This orchard is on Highway 8 between Vineland and Beamsville.  It is the best white blossom orchard so far.  What makes it so is the distance between the trees and length of the rows so that the convergence happens at the end.  My name for this is "Blossom Heaven".

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Vineland Research Station

I checked out the Vineland Research Station  last week.  There's a nice collection of flowering spring trees, including Paulownia, a warmer climate tree also known as the princess tree and empress tree.  It doesn't look like it will blossom this year, even though it is in the most protected location.  It has huge blossom heads with big flowers so is quite the show in spring.  

There are some nice magnolias there, and you can see in the first picture's background the state-of-the-art greenhouses being constructed.  Vineland Research is a research and innovation centre and one of its latest projects is greenhouse technology.  With the construction, there were also some good abstracts on the metal bins and trailers.

The same tree from the other direction shows a grove of cherry trees that should be in bloom this week.  More on Vineland Research Station here:
http://vinelandresearch.com
 

Friday, May 8, 2015

Who's the Fairest Barn of All?

We drove down Locust Lane yesterday.  This is such a beautiful country road - it has three wineries on it - Fielding, Mike Weir, then Hidden Bench.  It winds up and down, and the locust trees in the Fall are a beautiful colour.

I was looking for the Hidden Bench barn.  I've photographed this many times and had thought it must be the most photographed winery barn in Niagara.  The Flat Rock Cellars winery considers their Rusty Shed to be the most photographed. The internet answers the question of which barn in Niagara to have a wedding at, but nothing on historic barns in Niagara or winery historic barns, other than Hernder Winery's grand barn.

The question of the most photographed barn in America seems clear enough:  it is considered to be Moulton Barn - located in the Grand Tenton National Park in Wyoming. Here's a link to see this famous barn:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/moultonbarn/interesting/

Back to Niagara, Locust Lane is a scenic spot. You can see the Lake from Fielding and Mike Weir wineries.  The third picture is at the Hidden Bench intersection at Locust Lane.  It has the remnants of an abandoned orchard overlooking Beamsville with the Lake in the distance.





 

Monday, May 4, 2015

Spring Arrives

Marilyn's Photo of the Week

We have a few scenes of spring today.  This pretty cherry tree is on Yates Street in St. Catharines.  It is an historic district with houses from an era  of grace and proportion.  The street runs along Twelve Mile Creek so traces a winding path, giving it further charm.

Our next picture comes from Charles Daley Park - with our boat on that floating horizon in the distance.  The willow trees are just sprouting their green leaves.

Finally, a picture of something that we don't appreciate dandelions much.  They want to take over grassy plots and this is a perfect example of a public park with its lawn awash in yellow blooms.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Trillium Virus

My earliest Trilliums are blooming in the garden - the white and dark red ones.  When I visited Marion Jarvie's garden last week, she said she has a success of Trilliums blooming between the end of April and the middle of June.  The last to bloom are the Luteums - spotted leaves and upright yellow flowers.

These Trilliums are very pretty, but the stripes of green mean that they are virused.  If these plants aren't removed, the entire forest of Trilliums will eventually die of the virus.  So make sure you don't buy one of these thinking that it is an interesting variety.  It will kill the other trilliums in your garden.