Thursday, June 7, 2007

Bellevue Botanical Garden

I am not sure why people are so envious of the tropics. It is incredibly beautiful here in the Seattle area. Today we get to go on a tour of the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

Y'all are gonna have to decipher what some of these gorgeous flowers are because I don't know many of them and the garden was not well labeled.















A Water Stone and rill in the entry that flowed across the patio to another pond.














Berberis and some kind grass I think.















A fern of course.















The Water Wise Garden. It rains a lot here it seems. The sun has come out for the first time as I post this.















My best guess is a Kalmia.

















Alliums, the temperate Agapanthus.














The lawn looking out towards the perennial borders.















Purple and grey ferns.
















































A rock column with a perfect hole.

















Who knows what the next stop will bring and if I will be able to download pictures from my camera as I keep aiming towards Clyde. We'll see ya later.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although I always enjoyed Tropical Embellishments and your photos, I have never been a big fan of tropical plants. I think I'd much prefer Seattle myself. Considering the pages of garden mags that are devoted to Pacific NW gardens, it must be a gardener's paradise.

However, I notice that those Seattle gardens often tend to have cannas and other tropicals too. So there you go.

Cannas grow well here in Austin, but I've steered clear. Maybe if I had a pool I'd be more interested in the tropical look. Cannas and bananas look great near a deep, blue pool.

Carol Michel said...

And so you've made these temperate climate plants look just as beautiful as your tropicals. Thank you!

Annie in Austin said...

The one with the silver ruff looks like an Eryngium, maybe? We have family in Seattle and have visited several times - boy, I love that place.
It's good to see your post, Christopher, and your photo outside Pike's Place Market. You're seeing the cultivated gardens - maybe you'll get up to the Olympic Rainforest before you head southeast?

It will be a couple of weeks before I catch up with you again - I'm off to my mom's and will have no internet....may your journey be wonderful!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous photos and Kalmia was right! Lovely but slow growing. I love the bench with the perfect hole. A whole new palette of plants awaits you!

Unknown said...

Lovely pictures, Christopher. Those things in the PNW might grow in NC--you have a better shot of replicating them that I would here in zone 6! (They're generally a zone 8, I think. I'm totally envious of the growing conditions there in the PNW if you can't already tell. One of the girls I work with used to live in Seattle and teases me that anything she stuck in the soil there would grow lushly... argh.)

Here's a little help:

The first plant is some kind of acanthus... my guess is a. hungaricus but I admit I'm not up on my bear's breeches.

The yellow grass is hakonechloa macra 'aureola,' a lovely shade grass... mine isn't that big yet, so it doesn't quite cascade in such a lovely way. Eventually.

You're dead on with the kalmia latifolia (maybe 'Olympic Fire,' which is the one I have, but many of those cultivars look similar to me)

The purple and grey ferns are Japanese painted ferns

The white/silver plant underneath them is definitely an eryngium as Annie ID'd it (I like the blue varieties of eryngium--and it's fun to say)

The plant below the eryngium may well be an agastache?

All of the above should be growable in NC, I think.... :)

Anonymous said...

Hello, I stumbled across this blog while searching for other PNW garden bloggers. Beautiful photos. I used to live in the Caribbean, FL & Austin (I am a Longhorn), but PNW gardening is so very rewarding. I'm still learning about the climate here & I am amazed at the variety of plants that thrive in the mild winters. I am glad you got a chance to visit BBG while out here.

The 1st pic is Acanthus balcanicus which blooms here in Spring. BBG also has A. Spinosa which gets taller, has menacing spiky leaves and blooms Julyish.
Pic 4 is the PNW native evergreen Maidenhair fern Adiantum venustum.
Pic 11 is a Penstemon of some type.

I've got lots of Acanthus (Spinosa & Mollis) and Adiantum to share. If anyone wants to try some LMK--there're free. -Janine

Christopher C. NC said...

Hi Janine, thanks for stopping by. You reminded me to repost the Gardening Blog Directory button in my side bar.

Click on that link and under US blogs there are five links to garden bloggers in the PNW.

I wonder if that Acanthus balcanicus will grow here in NC?