Lilies and Lilies...and Roses

It is the Ontario Regional Lily Society show this weekend at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington.  I got a chance to visit the newly renovated and redesigned Rose Garden, and the pictures today show the views through the garden. The garden opened at the end of June after a two plus year renovation.  The roses are now combined with companion plants, so create a healthier eco-system garden which will be more interesting throughout the summer.  Rose gardens in the past have required a lot of management for watering, diseases and pests - think of the rose garden as a monoculture.  This is not a very healthy system.  RBG is leading the way with a holistic approach for us to learn from.   I'll be back there today to check out the other gardens such as the renovated Rock Garden.  And of course, take more pictures of lilies.

Loot Bag Etiquette

What was the value of the loot bag for the Oscar nominees?  Forbes came out on top of the retrieval list with:  "Inside the $100,000 Oscars Gift Bag of 2018." It is named the "Everyone Wins" Nominee gift bag.  It went to the 25 nominees in the acting and directing categories.  The participating companies donate the items and pay a promotional fee of at least $4,000 to have their products included.   Distinctive Assets is the company putting this all together.  It has 'toned down' the extravagance - in 2016 the bags were worth $230,000 each.  In this year's bag, there are three vacation packages - Greece, Hawaii, and the big one to Tanzania:  12-night Tanzania vacation for two This package from International Expeditions is the most expensive gift, costing more than $40,000. The journey includes spa services, a private safari guide, wild game drives and a hot air balloon safari with champagne breakfast. Here's a summary of what's included:  'This year’s offerings include a slate of skin-care, weight-loss and anti-aging products designed to fend off the inevitable progression of human life, as well as something called “Chao Pinhole Gum Rejuvenation.” The bag features fancy chocolates from Chocolatines in flavors unknown to the proletariat such as “Champagne Diamond” and “Ginger Sake Pearl.” We sampled the “Pomegranate Balsamic Ruby” but couldn’t taste the ruby'.  The full list is on thesuns website. What happens afterwards to the dozens of products?  I wondered about whether they are transferable - can they be given away as gifts?  Another article says that occasionally, celebrities are required to turn down gift bags because they have signed conflicting endorsement deals.  Others give theirs away; George Clooney opted in 2006 to donate his bag to a United Way charity auction, where it sold for $45,100. And still others object to the mere idea of gift bags on moral grounds — in 2007, Edward Norton called them “disgusting and shameful,” suggesting that the Academy instead make a charitable contribution in winners’ names.  Is there a downside to this windfall?  Yes - a big tax bill.  From time.com:  "But while these giveaways are usually thought of as freebies, that’s not how the IRS sees them. The tax man considers everything in the bags to be income, and therefore subject to the same tax rates as wages and other windfalls like gambling or lottery winnings".  That's how the Oscars/Academy got out of the business and Distinctive Assets took over.  After 2005, the contents were taxed. We're looking at another beautiful orchid from the Royal Botanical Gardens orchid show in February.

Thanks Giving

Our Thanksgiving holiday weekend celebration completes, and next is Halloween and its traditions.  Our Thanksgiving tradition came about in 1957 with the declaration of a holiday.  The date varied before then. Unlike the Americans, there isn't a "First Thanksgiving".  But it seems to me theirs varies too.  The "First" is said to be October 1621 and lasted three days - and is about the Pilgrims (who were not Puritans).  However, there is a Shrine of the First Thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia.  The date of that Shrine is 1619.   Our pictures today show our current decorative traditions - a 'country' scene displaying the pumpkin and squash harvest, corn stalks, and chrysanthemums in harvest colours. These were taken at Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington. The last picture is in Hendrie Park across the road from the greenhouse display. The entrance gates are beautiful and the plaque beside indicates the dedication to the Hendrie Brothers.  William Hendrie, a Scottish immigrant, purchased the land in the 1870s for his racehorse farm. In 1931 his son George donated the property to Hamilton Parks Board as a memorial to William and his brothers. Ten years later the property became part of RBG. I await the light this morning to 'see' the fog - there's a fog advisory that says visibility may be near zero in some places.

Our Surprise Tulips

We drove on the picturesque Sulphur Springs Drive in Pelham a few years ago during the Porsche fun run day.  The road was closed due to flooding for two consecutive years.  So it wasn't a surprise to see the report that it was washed out Wednesday night.  Another year of missing this beautiful drive.  I keep seeing the headline on the red-and-white Canada 150 tulips that are blooming orange in some gardens. Home Hardware the major retailer that sold the bulbs in the fall says that they are "taking each individual case very seriously."  I find this most entertaining.  The CTV news story gets 'to the bottom' of the issue - a packaging problem not a hybridization problem.  They quoted Mark Cullen, our gardening guru here in Canada.  The article concludes: “In the Netherlands, orange is their national colour,” Davis said. “Maybe this is their way of getting in on Canada 150.” We're looking at the spring version of the renovated RBG Rock Garden. I am looking forward to seeing it when the water fills the meandering pools and the fountains  are in action.

Spring and Summer

I was at the Lincoln Rotary WingDing Festival on Friday evening.  It is a chicken wing festival, with live music, lots of food trucks and a view of Lake Ontario at sunset, as it takes place at Charles Daley Park in St. Catharines.  This is one of the beautiful parks with a natural lagoon where the big brown trout go to spawn.  It also has an endless sandy beach.   So someone at the festival told me there were water restrictions in the town of Grimsby.  This morning I looked it up and find that the Town of Lincoln has water practices every summer with the odd and even days of water for the home address that matches.  I've been told this is the worst drought year since the 1980's.  Today's pictures show the difference between the RBG Conservatory spring garden in April and in July.  Which do you like the most?

New Gardens at RBG

These Royal Botanical Gardens pictures were taken  before the garden was closed for extensive renovations.   The magic of this garden is its sunken setting.  Like Butchart, one comes to the garden at the elevated entrance so surveys the whole garden.  Then one enters down into its magical paths where flowers, benches, and collections of plants draw one's attention.  RBG's strength was its spring time plantings.  It treated the garden as a canvas to be painted using tulips. I'm going to check it out today.  I'll see a completely new 'garden' in this special setting - a  new look, new design,  new plantings, new building, new everything.  Stay tuned. The RBG arboretum is nearby and has an extensive collection of spring flowering trees.  I hope you have a chance to visit by the weekend.  While our spring is glorious, it seems to be quite short.

Join me April 10, 2:00pm!

Join Me! Next Sunday I will be the speaker at the annual meeting of the Lily Society.  This is a free event open to the public.  And this is one of my favourite topics and activities - finding 'public' gardens within easy reach.  I would be so pleased if you can be there. April 10, 2016 2:00pm - Ontario Regional Lily Society (at the Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road West. Burlington, Rooms 1 & 2)  Great Public Gardens in Your Own Backyard If you live within the Golden Horseshoe and surrounding Toronto area, you can visit more than 30 public gardens within easy driving distance. Some will be new to you and others will be familiar.  You'll see them all at their best.   Get your schedules out because you'll want to get to these glorious gardens so close to home and easy to visit.

Painting with Tulips

Spring Tulips

Royal Botanical Gardens Rock Garden These pictures are from 2013 and are taken in the RBG rock garden. The rock garden was closed in spring 2014 for the big renovation. I looked in before Christmas and there was still a lot of heavy work in progress.  The opening is planned for this spring, but doesn't have a date yet. One can look at the RBG Site and see a map with the major features highlighted. The RBG rock garden has always showcased Tulips. Tulips are one of the great spring flowers for us - their colours range from soft and delicate to fiery and intense.  The shiny petals seem to make the colours stand out even more.  They are a perfect flower for the landscape painter.  The RBG mastery of colour combinations is enchanting.  But the result is so fleeting. In only a short time and the canvas changes and the artist starts anew.

Koi, The Living Art

I posted the images of Koi on the Marilyn Cornwell blog, and they seem a match for Open Gardens Niagara, too.  Koi often are residents of botanic gardens where they create magic for children in the garden.  These Koi are residents of the Royal Botanical Garden in Burlington Ontario.  They live in the greenhouse conservatory so are used to people every day.  They swim to people rather than away from them.

Here are more pictures from the Series: Koi, The Living Art, available on Redbubble and Fine Art America

Countdown to Christmas - the Landscape in December

It is the countdown to Christmas and everyone is busy shopping, going to concerts, baking, and going to special events.  These activities seem to be excellent distractions from the loss of our beautiful fall colours and glowing landscapes.  

These two pictures show the entrance to one of the Royal Botanical Gardens hiking trails.  They were taken just over a month apart, and with similar light in the sky.  But how the autumn colours make everything glow and how the winter sky and sombre reduced colour palatte makes for a stark comparison.

Of course, we will next experience Winter in Niagara.  The colour palette will reduce to the point where the images are black and white naturally.  It is a significant contrast to the many colours and hues of summer and autumn.  Of course, we then experience the cycle anew and our glorious spring returns.

As the Landscape Changes

I was at RBG earlier this week to check out the autumn colours in the arboretum.  I stood at the same place in early October 2012 at the arboretum.  What different landscapes and colours then and now.  Here is the first.

2014:

 2012:

Here is the second - 2014:

 2012:

Royal Botanical Gardens - A Rock Garden Splendour

The Royal Botanical Gardens Rock Garden display in the spring is wonderful.  Tulips grace the gardens in contrasting and complimentary colours.  Their scent is in the air along with the sound of water babbling in the stream.  The gardens are located in Burlington Ontario - here are a few selections from the visit last week.