I was drawn to a very special place at a time when I really needed to be there. This has been a difficult summer for me... I don't care to discuss this here, but suffice to say that pain has kept me from doing the things I need and want to do... and I have recently been considering whether I can continue maintaining our gardens at all.
I think my wise wife realized that I needed to get away and to get some new perspective, so she suggested that we do a garden walk this past weekend. We got away early on Saturday morning so as to beat the predicted heat and humidity, and did the Green Bay Wisconsin Garden Walk. I very much enjoyed all the gardens and was glad to have made the trip. I took some pictures of some very lovely gardens but since I didn't get permission, don't care to post them. Towards the end of the walk, it was time to visit the Green Bay Botanical Garden. We almost didn't go as we've been there many times in the past and it was getting warmer as the day went on.
The Green Bay Botanical Garden is a reasonably new gem in the necklace that is North East Wisconsin. I was totally unaware that two new gardens had been added this past fall and might have missed them all together despite the fact that on entering the gardens they were mentioned by the volunteer at the desk, had I not been drawn by the hillside of eremus and tritoma pictured above and below.
The path beyond continued to draw us and then I saw something I hadn't seen before... it was the timber-framed skeleton of an old barn with a lovely cedar shingled roof. I immediately was touched by memories of similar buildings in my native Vermont hills... I have always loved the rustic texture of old hand hewn barn beams that were so much a part of my youth. This particular view brought to mind sugaring season in the mountains and the all important sugar house where I spent many hours working with my grandfather as he evaporated the sap we had collected with a large horse drawn sled that housed a large cistern like structure. (This is why I keep an old cistern in my gardens.) Lunch would be hard boiled eggs and wieners boiled in the sweet sap as the excess moisture rose through the large open cupola at the top of the building.
The path continued to beckon us and of course my curious mind would never allow me to not check out the wooden structure on the hill. Soon we came to the kiwi covered structure seen below, still with no clue as to what was to come... (excellent use of garden design principles might I add).
The next garden to come into view was the children's garden... very nice but I didn't take the time to stop as my curiosity had been piqued and I was being drawn on!
Along the path on the left and accompanying the children's garden area, were lovely water features... my wife made a friend as seen here...
I need to stop at this point to tell you that in all the gardens we've visited in Canada and the US in the last forty years, only one has drawn me back time and again, and made me want to just sit and soak it all in... (I tend to be the sort that wants to just keep moving and discovering more and more). The garden that I'm referring to is linked at the top right side of my blog and is part of a little Vermont Nursery called Cady's Falls. Little did I realize that I was soon to discover a second garden that would have the same effect on me. A garden that so reminded me of the Vermont mountains of my youth that I could literally sit and soak it in for hours at a time.
The next photo is a view of the pond just referenced and when I saw the facsimile of an old decaying stone house, I was hooked! ( I wonder if Chanticleer in Pennsylvania was an inspiration?) As a youth in Vermont, I loved to hike in the mountains and discover old collapsed homesteads and try to imagine what life had been like a hundred years earlier.
I invite you to meander the trail through this marvelous garden with me... after my visit I felt invigorated and excited to get back to my own gardens... unfortunately it is about 90 degrees with a 75 dew point here today and my back locked up again, so I got to spend time with the chiropractor instead! I will say however, that I am mentally renewed in terms of gardening as a direct consequence of this marvelous spot in the woods.
 |
| Overview |
 |
| Belvedere from the overview |
The Green Bay Botanical Gardens are much more than what I've shared today... another favorite garden of mine is the Cottage Garden area which I will share here...
I'll now close with just a few more of the lovely treats offered by the Wisconsin's Green Bay Botanical Gardens. I look forward to their future growth and development. Wisconsin is a marvelous gardening state with many special public and private gardens to visit! Take care, Larry
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét