We drove north into Washington State to visit the tulip fields at Holland America Bulb Farm in Woodland: what a delightful outing! Row upon row of amazingly bright and beautiful tulips: all labeled so that you can buy your favorite varieties. I’m afraid I went a little crazy and ordered over a 100 bulbs: they […]
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Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California
Alcatraz, San Francisco, California, USA We had the rare opportunity this month to join the Quarry Hill volunteers for a special tour of the gardens of Alcatraz: what a unique gardening experience! While you may think of Alcatraz as a prison, the island was also home to many families who did their best to […]
Gilroy Gardens
Photo by Richard Reames. Wikimedia Had a great visit recently to a place we’ve been wanting to see for years: Gilroy Gardens. You probably don’t know about the “Circus Trees” lovingly grown and tended by a real one-of-a-kind gardener: Axel Erlandson. A Swedish immigrant to California, in 1925 he began to shape trees as a […]
Hearst Castle and Filoli Gardens
Enjoy English gardens? If you can’t quite manage a trip to the UK, you can visit a very English garden not too far away. Located south of San Francisco in Woodside, Filoli is a magnificent estate originally built by the owner of the Empire Mine in 1917. It was expanded and developed by several wealthy […]
David Austin Roses
Greetings from sunny England! After three weeks of generally rainy and cold weather, we are enjoying a week of sun and the gardens are lovely! We were lucky enough to visit the birthplace of our favorite rose breeder, David Austin. On the outskirts of the small town of Albrighton, this nursery that produces roses enjoyed […]
Barrington Court
Barrington Court in Somerset, England, is one of our very favorite gardens. On your visit we recommend you investigate the gardens, have tea, and stroll the grounds. The lovely walled gardens were designed by Gertrude Jekyll and include a delightful white garden. The beautifully tended kitchen garden is full to over-flowing with vegetables and berries, […]
Bellevue Botanical Garden
Just outside Seattle, Bellevue Botanical Garden is a FREE venue to delight your senses in all seasons of the year. The beautifully maintained gardens include a really lovely rock garden with an amazing variety of dwarf conifers, a lush perennial border filled with gorgeous grasses, and a relaxing strolling path through the woodlands and […]
Koala, Platypuses, and Wombats…Oh My!
M. and G. Fanning, text and photos Down under things do seem upside down from time to time. A mammal that lays eggs, likes to swim a lot of the time, and has a bill like a duck. A bear that is not a bear. And a prey that can turn into the hunter, when […]