On Golden Pond

I know this isn't Niagara - instead it is Toronto Botanical Gardens.  Today's pictures again showcase TBG's Wilket Creek.  I was at Grimsby Beach yesterday, and wished for the golds and oranges to reflect in Forty Creek.  But alas, there aren't any Autumn colour reflections so far.  Maybe this weekend!

Koi, The Living Art

Koi, The Living Art  The Marie Selby Botanical Garden is located in Sarasota.  The Selby fortune was made in oil, and became part of Texaco.  This garden is located overlooking the water, so has extensive water views and is a wonderful walking garden.  It is well-known for its significant collections of gesnariads, cycads, and orchids.  It is a research facility and has preserved plants in its collections as well. My interest during this trip is to gather as many Koi images as I can. I've been to the garden each day, and am lucky to be able to sit on a bench at the water pond and pool to take pictures.  This is a large collection of Koi and they are large in size - about a foot long each of them.  There is a waterfall that flows into the pool.  The Chinese tradition says that if a Koi can make the final leap up the waterfall, it will be transformed into a Dragon. It is likely that you can see the fascination with Koi.  Their movements in the water make beautiful displays of their tails and fins and are ever-changing.

Whistling Gardens - Always Beautiful

As we move into late Fall, we think the beautiful colours are over.  At Whistling Gardens, Darren Heimbecker has over 2500 varieties of conifers, and some of them have vivid winter colour.  Here are some images from the first week of November 2014.  See more at:

http://www.whistlinggardens.ca

A Garden Like This - Lotusland

I was finally able to visit Lotusland last September.  It is located in Santa Barbara, and is a private garden open to the public.  Ten years ago, I wanted to visit the garden but it was the day before it formally opened.  As the garden is only visited with tour guides, it wasn't a possibility.  

This is a garden with stunning collections of cycads, cactuses, desert plants of all varieties.  Between Lotusland and Huntington, I saw the most number of desert plants ever.  It was a wonderful experience to see them so artistically displayed.  I could imagine desert gardening after these visits.  

Here is the entrance way with Ganna Walska's dedication.