The Passionate Gardener

look at these!!!!

looks like a bridal bouquet 

 a jigsaw puzzle

love that bold edging

these 6" daisies hold their when against all the tulips 

there are so many views across the gardens like this 

Monet would have a field day 

this garden was created in an old limestone quarry . the depth of the sunken garden cn be seen here .

These are tulips!!!!

wow

more wow

 Because I really want  to see as much of this special piece of Canada as i can, I have resorted to rent a car for another 3 days. I picked up the Toyota RAV yesterday afternoon and today I made my THIRD visit to The Buchart Gardens. The gardens are world renowned  but my interest is the full realisation that they were modelled on the European model of 19th and  20th. century gardens, often rather formally planted each season using  the concept of the parterre that is alive and well here. 

Today, if i thought i knew about tulips, I was on a learning curve !!! First of all, the colours, then the height of so many of them , then the  varieties, shapes and forms,. Then add in the design of the planting combinations in terms of complimentary flowers and  their shape, form and  color . It was all too much to take in. Suffice it to say this was Tulip Day and clearly demonstrates why Spring visits need to be frequent to get the best experience of the gardens . It was about 4 weeks since my last visit and it was as if a first visit, with the exception of knowing the overview of the gardens . Tulips were in the limelight but bright colours is not my prime garden interest , but the selected combinations used here was exceptional . 

My favourite part of the gardens is the Japanese garden. I already knew that planting structure and textures are a major aspect of my love of plants and gardening. The extraordinary quality i  experienced here is a profound sense of peace and calm within this section of the whole vast enterprise . There were people visiting the area , so not absent of audience. For me  the garden was clearly giving off  a peaceful, calm ambience as if a fine, invisible mist is inhaled and everything slows down . It not the sound of quietly flowing water, or the occasional bamboo spicket that empties the content of water; its not the loud absence brightly coloured Tulips . or the little red bridge. Maybe its the abundance of moss acting as a sounding  board, or maybe the attention one gives while noting the way simple natural materials are perfectly used to create perfect structures.