In a yard in the spring, there is no lack of beauty everywhere you look!  The beautiful blossoms from the fruit trees have tumbled to the ground.  Such graceful beauty there.  This is an apple blossom.  Something so precious in nature wantonly decorating even the wood chip mulch!  Pretty on so many levels.

They were so lovely, that  my camera just clicked away …to capture this momentary deliciousness for me to savour later on.

Ok, so I’m really enthralled with these dainty blossoms ..  here resting on a Salmonberry leaf.

So, anyway, one day last week, I think it was Thursday, I was having one of those little busy types of days.  Where I go hither and yon and in between I have some little adventures.   My first stop of the day was at Royal Roads, where I visited the most wonderful Camosun College Horticulture greenhouses.   I was given a little tour and on the way, was captivated by the sight of some Leylandi cyprus trees in the midst of a trim.  I quite liked the look of this one .. smooth on the sides and wild and crazy at the top.  It will be lovely when the trimming is finished .. however .. I do prefer this look! 

This espaliered pear tree is well over a hundred years of age!   And … the ancient walls of this garden are slowly (and lovingly) being resurfaced.  See how the walls look so lovely and bright behind the branches ..

Here is a section of the wall that has not been resurfaced yet.  I randomly took this photo and now, looking at it, I have a few questions … what type of tree is this?  Where does the path go to?  Is there a gate there?  What is the purpose of the building to the left?  sigh.

Here is a larger section of the walled garden.  This is a very huge undertaking, the resurfacing of the walls.   It will look so beautiful when done.  Homage to the past.  I’ll visit again to see how the work is progressing.

I love hypertufa .. here is an example of a hypertufa planting in middle of a bench.  This year the Camosun Horticulture plant sale had quite a variety of the most beautiful and lovingly crafted hypertufa planters.  A few of them now grace our yard.  Many years ago I purchased all the materials to make one and it didn’t happen.  I’m now inspired to try to make one (or 50, who knows, I do get carried away with creative projects!)  🙂

Here is another one:

On our tour we met a duck .. a handsome little Mallard.  Due to the vast acreage of this area Hatley Park  there are many old growth trees which provide habitat and protection for a diversity of raptors, birds of all types.  In fact. there is an old Magnolia tree near the greenhouse that attracts quite a number of Cedar Waxwings during July so I plan to go back there to see them.

Oh darn, I meant to take a closer look at the name tag of this beauty ..

Is this not a thing of beauty …

So, at the beginning of this day, my intent was just to visit and purchase a hypertufa planter.  What happened after were unexpected gifts.

A surprise and welcomed little tour of the students gardens.   I met the person who is the head of the whole Royal Roads Gardens .. I cannot fathom the immensity of this position. She is a very knowledgeable and interesting person .. and it would be lovely to sit with her and find out a bit of the history of Hatley Gardens.

I came away from my visit with 2 lovely hypertufa planters, one for us and one for a friend.  A sturdy Bay tree and some horsetail sections.  The horsetail I will keep in pots as they have a tendancy to travel the world and it’s challenging to keep them in control.  Many years ago I had planned to make a soak for my nails, as the horsetail contains silica and  I thought that it might make my nails stronger.  Haven’t done that thus far, but plan to do so with some of the pieces that I obtained.

I learned that eveyone is welcome there, to wander around the gardens so I plan to do just that in the future.  What a restful and creative place to be.

Anyway, on the way out, I saw a young woman jogging to beat the band!  (that means, running all out!).   While I was busy being impressed with her 100% focus on running .. .she waved to me so I stopped.  And learned that she had become lost and was trying to get somewhere in a hurry so I gave her a lift.  Turns out that she is a script writer for a national radio station and oh wow I would have loved to have long talks with her about that.  But no time for that today.

After this .. I found myself stopping in at a little strip of stores along the highway.

And that was kind of interesting too .. so I’ll say more and post photos tomorrow (or the day after!)

🙂

On with this day.   Lunch with friends and my second singing lesson .. I am so excited!!!!1