Friday, April 27, 2018

X is for an 'Xceptional Afternoon

Recently, Ward and I visited the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. The weather was warm and the spring flowers were in full bloom.  We had a great time both looking at the flowers and plants, and people watching. Here are some pictures from our eXceptional afternoon.

Tulips provided the major color in the gardens. Notice that daffodils were intermixed with the tulips.


A closer view


There were total white beds, also.


Ward liked the angles on this arbor and thought he might want to build one like it.


There were both paved paths and mulch paths through gardens and woods. The grass there hadn't greened up yet.


I think these are Jack-in-the-Pulpits, but Jack has a rounder, whiter head than I've seen before.


The trees were providing shade for the plants along the path in this hosta garden.


I really liked these dark red tulips.
The yellow tree is a yellow leafed Japanese maple.
 I had never seen one before and was totally fascinated by it. Now I want one.


This is the entrance to the Korean Bell Garden which is part of the park.
 (Next 5 pictures are from the Korean Garden.)



 Ponds provide water for the plants in the gardens.


These statues, representing grandfathers, are used to guard villages.


This is the 3 ton bell that the Korean gardens were designed around. The bell represents peace and harmony.


These totem poles were also used to guard villages among other things.






14 comments:

  1. Hooray for an eXcellent field trip! I love that picture of the tulips that you entitled "A closer look". Did you take it with your new camera? What camera did you end up buying?

    I shall miss those daily posts of yours, Live & Learn. Surely now that Spring has come to your neck of the woods, you'll find something to share on a regular basis, no? Pretty please?

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    1. I know what you mean--it's been a day-brightener to look forward to her posts.

      Such beautiful gardens! Looks like a wonderful place to spend a few hours. Tell Ward when he gets done making your arbor, he can take a road trip up my way and make one for me! I'd also like the grandfather statues, but that might be harder to come up with.

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    2. Most of the pictures were taken with the new camera. However, it ran out of batteries near the end and I used the old one. I got a Nikon D3400 and have idea how to use it except to point and shoot. There is an online class to learn how to use it, that I really need to make time for.

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    3. After Ward gets done making an arbor here, I'll send him up. Currently, we don't really have a place for the arbor and bench, but that could change as the yard evolves.

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  2. Beautiful! Looks like a lovely place to visit.

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    1. Just the kind of place you could ride your bike to and then have a walk around.

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  3. Beautiful tulips! Love the totem poles! Nice afternoon you and Ward shared!

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    1. I liked the totem poles also. I wish I knew what they said.

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  4. That was a very beautiful tour.

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    1. It was a beautiful place that I'm glad we found.

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  5. What a lovely garden! All those tulips! There must be thousands of them! I, too, hope that there will be more frequent posts once this series is over. :)

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    1. You're right. I think there were probably thousands of tulips. I hope we can go about once a month and see new things blooming.

      I hope I can post more regularly now, also. You do it every day. I should just make it part of my routine like you do.

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  6. Gardens like that are always neat to visit.

    That arbor is something I might call "Adirondack" style (for the upstate NY mountains). You can google Adirondack Great Camps (or Adirondack style) and see lots of examples of constructions like that. The Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY, has great examples of things like that, too.

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    1. Google images has a lot of different things for Adirondack arbors, some of which are like the one we saw. And I see the museum advertises rustic furniture. I have a friend that makes all kinds of rustic furniture, but I haven't see an arbor yet. This arbor will go onto the list of all of the other things Ward wants to make. Maybe some day it will make it to the top.

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What do you think?