GBFD – Away from home

Welcome to GBFD where I encourage you to think about how foliage adds to the enjoyment of your gardens. 

Visiting public gardens is often s great way to see and understand how foliage is used to add to the garden experierience when it is impossible to have flowers everywhere all the time. 

As many of you will have read on Susie’s (PBM Garden) post I had the great pleasure to meet her and spend the day visiting gardens with her. As she mentioned it was extremely hot made worse by the very high humidity, which I’m not used to at all. 

Together we visited Duke Garden, for more information about the garden do check out Susie’s posts about it, below is an image I think exemplifies the use of form and texture to create interest. Also the use of void space (something I want to include in the new design for my own garden. 

  
Also seen in the garden were some beautiful Japanese maples. 

   
 

I’d almost forgotten that these beautiful colours were possible in summer as they are only present in autumn, and even then only rarely. 

I’ll be writing more about the pleasure of meeting Susie, we both felt that we had known each other well for some time and shared the kind of conversation that only happens when two passionate gardeners get together. Meeting fellow bloggers has been an unexpected additional pleasure in writing a blog. 

Later in the week we were in Charleston at Magnolia Plantation, were Spanish moss (not a moss at all btw, but a relation of the pineapple) drips from the centuries old Live Oaks – I need to check on the Latin name of this. 

  
If you look really closely you might see the eyes of an aligater just above the surface of the water. 

To join GBFD please just link to this post and leave a comment with the link to yours. I’ll be traveling again tomorrow so I’ve posted a little early. I hope you’re all having a great gardening June. 

This is posted from my iPhone so please forgive any glaring errors. Christina

In a vase on Monday-a little cheat

this isn’t my vase but I couldn’t bare not to join in with Cathy today. So here is the vase I saw in the restaurant where Susie and her husband treated us to a wonderful dinner. 

  
 Can you see how ladles have been hung from the edge of the vase with very short stems of Gerberas floated in the bowls with hydrangeas in the tall cylindrical vase. 

I know the flowers should be from my garden, but I know you’ll forgive me this time. 

This is also a first! A post from my iPhone! So now you know where I am.    

In a Vase on Monday – Daisy, daisy…..

There aren’t any actual daisies in this week’s vases but the form of the flowers is the classic shape a child would draw if asked to paint a flower.

The vases were actually arranged on Saturday as friends were coming to a pizza supper.  I know that Cathy at Rambling in the garden won’t mind that the vase wasn’t done today; she id very forgiving of slight bending of the rules of her wonderfully addictive meme, where she asks us to collect flowers from our own gardens or surroundings to fill a vase to enjoy in our homes.

Wordless Wednesday – Views I’m enjoying this week – Bright Light

I intended taking the photographs for this post yesterday evening but somehow it just didn’t happen.  This morning the light is very bright so the images are a little Chiaro/Scuro.

In a Vase on Monday – White

I have been so busy today I thought I wouldn’t have time to join Cathy at Rambling in the garden  for my favourite meme.  But I felt Monday just wasn’t Monday without a vase.