Anyhow, about eleven years after my high school friends, I finally got to visit Butchart Gardens when we docked in Victoria. It was really beautiful and fun.
The blue poppies were some of my favorite flowers that we saw. These rare flowers were discovered in 1922 on Mount Everest.
Can anyone identify this flower for me? It looks like a zinnia from far away, but one realizes that the petals are actually small flowers on closer inspection. We couldn't find a picture of this flower in our guidebook, nor could we find a staff member to help us. I love these flowers, though. I want to try and grow them in my garden...once I identify them.
In case you're wondering, I conscientiously decided to wear flowery ruffles on the day that we visited the gardens.
One of the most dramatic, spectacular moments at the garden (for the visitor) is at this point. The visitor winds around a dark path, which suddenly opens to reveal this vista of the "Sunken Garden" below. The Sunken Garden was once an abandoned limestone quarry - and the transformation of the space seems almost magical.
And that was the last part of our cruise. We arrived in Seattle the next morning. Sam was fully outfitted with his marine-themed clothes, as a last tribute to our fun trip:
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7 comments:
The mystery flower looks like some weird form of hydrangea to me, but I'm probably wrong. I'll send it to my mom.
I NEED some blue poppies in my yard!
I love that unknown flower; it's beautiful! How cool that you got to go to that garden after all these years (and parents sometimes make the weirdest choices, don't they? Ha!).
Hi! Those flowers you love are called Lantana. When I was a child we would spend weeks at a time at our cabin in Newport Beach, CA and spent hours playing in a neighborhood park. A shrub covered the fence and was covered with these magnificent flowers. My little sister and I strung them into sticky leis. They smell wonderful and and beautiful. There are many varieties of colors, I was particularly fond of the color on your blog post. I am surprised you saw then in Victoria since they prefer a much warmer climate.
I Mark, Bellevue
I love lantana, too, M! It is on my list of flowers I want to put in our yard next. I don't remember ever seeing it before moving to DC and then I started seeing it regularly. I had to ask Annette what it was when she visited. I love all of the color variations, too, and have wondered if the colors change over the course of the bloom or if there are just different varieties. I love that you can get yellow, orange, pink, and red blooms from one plant. Post pictures when you plant, please!
Aren't those poppies great, ixoj? Let me know if you try to grow them.
Thanks for the identification of latana, I. Mark! I wonder if I should even try to grow them here, since you mentioned that they do well in warmer weather. I guess I could at least try...
I love the color variations, too, jrae! You should try to grow some in DC. And e, since you're my other DC friend, maybe you should try to grow some as well (once you get settled in a new place, that is. Perhaps this won't be your year for planting flowers.)
I love your photos. Thanks for the blue poppy seeds! I also love Lantana. I first saw it when we lived in San Diego. There was a huge bush at the entrance to Bazaar del Mundo in Old Town and I would occasionally stop by just to visit this glorious bush - then go on through the colorful shops. I wish we could grow it here. I tried one summer but they didn't last.
Absolutely gorgeous. I love flowers
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