Two Enchanting Miniature Gardens

A few days ago, we got a brief break from the snowy winter weather by attending the 2015 Boston Flower Show.  The theme this year was 'Season of Enchantment', and I have to share with you one of the most enchanting parts of the show - the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's miniature gardens competition.

Each miniature garden is in a box and viewed through a glass window that is about 2 feet wide and a foot and a half high.  The gardens are judged on how it represents a larger garden, with a scale of 1 inch equalling 1 foot, at least for the part in the foreground.  Combining both horticulture and design on an intricate, scaled-down level, the results are impressive and amazing.

There were two entries at the Boston Flower Show this year.  The first one, by Gloria Freitas Steidinger, is titled 'The Lot Was Pasteurized', and shows a charming scene of a home in the woods.  It is complete with miniature lambs frisking through the front yard, a water feature with a swimming swan, miniature moose or elk surveying the scene from atop a cliff, and tractors resting in the nearby field.

I love all the little plants and moss that help create the scene.  So cute!

The second miniature garden was created by Debi Hogan and Warren Leach, and shows an enchanting scene of a playhouse up in the trees, complete with vines and children's playthings. Birdhouses hang in nearby trees, and a stone path leads to a picnic table and chairs behind the playhouse, completing the look of a miniature backyard retreat.

The variety of plants used was astounding.  It truly looked like a lush, miniature backyard garden, full of bushes, trees, vines, grasses, and even flowers.  Can you believe this was all done with little tiny plants?

I wish I would have taken even more pictures of all the little details going on in the two gardens - it's worth clicking on the pictures above to enlarge them so you can see how many things are going on.  The miniature gardens truly were enchanting, and just seeing them makes me itch to get some tiny plants and make a miniature garden of my own in a terrarium or something!  I don't remember seeing the miniature gardens competition when I went to the Boston Flower Show last year, but from now on I know to be on the lookout.  So charming!

Winter Vacation! Flowers on the Las Vegas Strip

For the last month, the Boston area has been pounded with blizzard after blizzard, shattering records for snow and cold.

Thankfully I escaped.

The snow mountain at a local grocery store
- after they trucked out a lot.

For a few days, I was delighted to join my husband while he was at a conference in nice, sunny Las Vegas!

Now where does a gardener go in Las Vegas (especially one who is not very lucky at slot machines)?  The largest garden on the Strip: the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Set under the 55-foot tall glass ceiling of the Bellagio's Conservatory, the gardens change every season according to a theme that is designed, implemented, and cared for by an army of over 100 horticultural staff.

The theme at the time?  Chinese New Year
2015 is 'Year of the Goat'

As a gardener, I was a little disappointed to find out that it was less a botanical garden and more an extravagant floral art show, but it was still fun and impressive to see.  The theme while I was there was 'Chinese New Year', and flowers and plants were used to build beautiful Asian-themed vignettes.

Several Chinese children frolicked through the garden, their clothes entirely made of flowers.  Water constantly ran through the displays, and I wonder how often they had to change out the flowers.

All of the thousands of flowers and plants looked incredibly fresh and healthy.

Each of the plants on the ground level was in its own (well-hidden) pot, ready to be changed out as it faded or wilted.

According to their information online, more than 10,000 potted plants are switched out over the course of two weeks in the garden.  After their short life, the old plants are turned into mulch for the rest of the Bellagio grounds.

Bamboo and Juniper topiaries served as vertical accents.  Most of the flowers were different Bromeliads and Chrysanthemums, but there were also orchids and a few other flowers I did not recognize.

It was impressive to see such a site in the middle of the dessert.  

It is also impossible to capture the scope of how large the place was with my little camera phone.

Such a nice vacation!  I enjoyed the Conservatory, and I just enjoyed walking around Las Vegas without needing five layers of winter clothing and snow boots!

Ah, back to the Boston area...

me digging my heated birdbath out of the snow

Did you hear that after tomorrow's winter storm, we are supposed to break the 107.6" record for the most snow in a season ever?  Lucky us...

An Indian Garden

Well, here in my garden the snow has finally melted away and the sun has come out.  Even though we got a brief flurry yesterday, the overall temps are slowly rising, and the sight of bulb tips rising out of the ground is enough to give this winter-weary gardener a cause for celebration!

While I wait for temperatures to rise enough for gardening to begin in earnest, I thought I'd share pictures of a garden in southern India.  Last fall we visited Mr. Red House's grandparents in Bangalore, and his grandmother has a beautiful, lush garden filled with tropical plants.

There were many plants I couldn't identify, not being as familiar with tropical plants.  The impressive specimen that anchors the corner of the yard has now been identified as a Sago Palm (thanks to Linda from Southern Rural Route!)

an overhead view

The nearby flower stalks of Heleconia (thanks, Usha, for identifying these!) were very pretty and exotic.

In the shady front yard a vine with small white flowers climbs along the wall.  A bench under the mature tree in the corner is a nice place to sit and enjoy the cooler shade.  The focal point, though, is the striking decorative planter which holds a Holy Basil plant (thanks again, Usha, for correctly identifying that one!)

If you look closely, you can see patterns drawn in chalk on the cement around the planter, a practice common in India.

To the side of the house is a small courtyard is lined with crotons and flowering shrubs.

My favorite plant held sprays of small white, freckled flowers, that the butterflies enjoyed.

A larger shrub (possibly Ixora?) held bunches of interesting red and orange flowers.

They have several fruit trees, including a coconut palm tree.  On another occasion when we were in India, they had a guy climb it and throw down some coconuts for us to eat.  It was impressive to see the guy climb the tree - he climbed it so quickly and with no safety ropes of any kind!  The coconut milk and meat were delicious.

There were a variety of hibiscus shrubs in the garden.  (Those I recognized!)

My favorite was a graceful pale pink variety, whose flowers never open, but instead stay whirled around the center stalk.  (Thank you to Usha, who I should hire as my tropical plant expert, for identifying these as a Turk's cap variety!)

Mr. Red House's grandmother also had a similar one in red.

Right next to one of the doors grew a large Hibiscus mutabilis shrub, whose flowers only last for one day, but slowly change their color from white in the morning...

...to dark pink by the afternoon.

Many of the flowers they would cut in the mornings to float in bowls of water or to place in their prayer room.  However, even if they cut all of the flowers, the garden would still never be without color with the profusion of colorful foliage in it.

colorful Croton leaves

It was so much fun to visit a garden with such different plants than mine.  Bangalore is known as the 'Garden City' of India.  Many of the streets are lined with flowering trees, and it is so lush and green there, that it is easy to see why!

auto rickshaw turning into the driveway

Happy spring gardening!

When a Good Plant Becomes Bad

Last fall we took a trip to Bandipur National Park in southern India.  My last post showed some of the wildlife I saw there, but, as a gardener, the trip was also a small treasure hunt to find and photograph some of the native flora.

I saw several Gloriosa lilies, growing wild in their native habitat.  

I think this is Thorny Nightshade.  Looks rather unfriendly, doesn't it?

Thorny Nightshade, aka. Solanum virginianum

I'm not sure what these little bell shaped flowers are called.  They remind me a little of petunias.

Mostly, though, I saw Lantana.  

Lots

and lots

of Lantana.

Lantana camara growing everywhere, including up onto trees.

Oh, I thought, Lantana must be native here!

Nope. 

It's from parts of Central and South America.  Lantana was only introduced into India in the early 1800's (as an ornamental shrub, of course).

Lantana camara

Even though butterflies love it, it is a huge detriment to other wildlife.  

It's leaves and flowers contain toxins that make it inedible to herbivores, and it also spread rapidly and chokes out the native plants, so there's less food for plant-eaters.

Lantana towering over the elephants at Bandipur National Park

 It's such a problem, that the decline of herbivores is also becoming a threat to the population of tigers and other carnivores in these protected wildlife and tiger reserves.

It's even hard for some of the large animals to make their way through the overgrown thickets of Lantana! 

Herd of elephants wading through the Lantana

Outside of the wildlife reserves, it's also affected people's livelihood, as Lantana takes over crop and pasture land.  Many of the efforts to get rid of it has failed.

Do you see the peacock hiding behind the Lantana?

Forest departments and other agencies are doing their best to manage this weed, uprooting it and planting native plants.  They are also researching ways to use Lantana, such as building furniture from it, in order to help the livelihood of the people in the local communities.  If life gives you lemons, try to make some lemonade, right?

But, really, after seeing the amount of Lantana, I feel bad for the forest agencies who are facing an uphill battle.

Lantana is growing up giant Bamboo mounds at Bandipur National Park.

I'll say this -

after seeing Lantana in India... 

'Chapel Hill Yellow' Lantana quietly growing in my old North Carolina garden.
Is it really making plans to escape?

I'll never look at it in a garden quite the same way again!

Saving the Best for Last - the Duke Gardens

So if you had enough time to visit only one more garden in the Raleigh-Durham area, where would you go?

Such was the quandary I found myself in as Mr. Red House and I visited North Carolina for the last foreseeable time to pack up our (sold! woohoo!) house.  Though it wasn't really that much of a quandary - I've long wanted to visit the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in nearby Durham.

Yep, it's that amazing!
(I wish I could say this was me, frolicking amongst the flowers, but, well, it's a slightly more talented performer than myself..)

Even with a couple hours to visit, we still only saw about half of the extensive gardens!  The Duke Gardens are broken up into several parts.  The Terraces is the oldest part, designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman in the 1930's.  It was incredibly stunning, overflowing with blooms.

The wisteria-covered pergola is the crown of the Terraces (and a prime spot for wedding photos).  Steps lead down...

 ...through lush terraces... 

...filled with blooms in all sorts of color combinations...

... and down to a koi-filled pool.

Did I mention it was impressive?

In total contrast, the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, another section of the Duke Gardens, had a much more unorganized, natural feel, being essentially a 6.5 acre woodland garden.  

Opened in the 1960's, this garden holds more than 900 species and varieties of plants native to the Southeast.

Mountain Azalea

Many of these plants were rescued from land that was being developed, and it also holds some rare and endangered plant species.

Trumpet Honeysuckle

This garden is very wildlife friendly, and has a large, um, squirrel-feeding station?

We only had time to walk through a section of this garden.  It is too bad this is the first time I have gotten the chance to see it - I would have loved to see the different native plants blooming at different times of the year!  

Native dogwoods and columbine are in bloom along the path.

So if you ever get the chance to visit the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina, definitely check out the Duke Gardens.  I was so glad I finally got the chance!