Hunter Valley Garden

This visit to Hunter Valley dates back to December 2007, long before my venture into Bloggerhood. This was also the visit that got me falling head over heels for a  Botanic Garden! If your genie could grant you only one visit to a botanic garden in Australia, wish for the Hunter Valley Garden. Seriously!


I had seen two other gardens in Sydney just days before heading for the wine country to stop at certain vineyards and taste the locally produced wine. The Hunter Valley region is famous for its deep red shiraz, we were told. It was actually a last-minute decision to visit the Hunter Valley Garden, but I'm so glad we didn't give it a miss.


There were lots and lots of lovely thematic gardens to see in Hunter Valley Garden. You would feel like a kid in a candy store. We walked more than 8 kilometres along the walkways leading from one 'garden room' to another.

The Formal Garden is splendid

Sunny weather for Santa here Down-under.

I like this look so much that I've got some ducks to place near my new border in my garden.

Now this I wouldn't be able to recreate in my garden!

At the Rose Garden...just luv-er-ly!

There were thousands and thousands of roses...all as pretty as this one.

Look at how fresh the roses look in the summer sun.

These plants must have had the best care in the world...healthy leaves, perfect blooms

We are of course in Story Book Garden.

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Familiar nursery rhyme?

            

She has a familiar pose...

So serene...

This is my favourite view looking out from the cafe where we had a fine lunch.

The variety of native plants...

The vivid colours...

A splendid lake view...

A quiet summer gazebo...

There are just too many favourite photographs in my Hunter Valley Garden album that I want to share with you. Can't post all of them so I'll just drag myself away now. Hope you are inspired to add a feature or two or an idea for your garden from the photographs above.

Capricious Anacapri Garden

The best of sea, sky and landscape - that's what you get when you take a bit of time to walk up to the top of the highest point on the island of Capri. Well, you don't really walk all the way from the Marina Grande, the largest harbour in Capri. You could take the funicular. Or just take a cab...the cabs in Capri are all pretty classy, white open-top convertibles.

The public garden at the peak is named the Garden of Augustus, after the Roman emperor. The garden is built on the ruins of ancient Roman structures. It is a fabulous location for a garden. You'll love the terraced nature of the terrain, and when you reach the look-out point, you can't help but gasp at the scene. It is just stunning! You see the azure waters and the famous clear blue Mediterranean sky.Then you get to see Capri's famous landmarks, the massive Faraglioni Rocks jutting 100 metres out of the water.








How is the Garden of Augustus capricious?

In my imagination, there is plenty going on in the garden that points to capricious behaviour. Just look at the two characters in the scene above. Balzac must have read the mind of the Classical Roman in the background who appears to be confounded by the modern-day woman sharing his part of the Garden of Augustus. Is he thinking this as he gazes at her: "Love is the most melodious of all the harmonies, and we have an innate feeling for it. Woman is a delicious instrument of pleasure, but one must know the chords, study the pose of it, the timid keyboard, the changing and capricious fingering." But what is the sculpture of post-modernist dimensions thinking? Could she be mulling over what Sarah Fielding is quoted to have 'pondered'? "I had some short struggle in my mind whether I should resign my lover or my liberty, but this lasted not long. I found myself as free as air and could not bear the thought of putting myself in any man's power for life only for a present capricious inclination." But the last words for these two conflicting characters must surely come from Shakespeare: "If then true lovers have ever been crossed  It stands as an edict in destiny.  Then let us teach our trial patience  Because it is a customary cross,  As due to love and thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,  Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers."
And what about this lone statue with the bath towel? Despite streams of human traffic for company throughout the day, he must be lonely. Eugene Delacroix's words ring true for this character above about the capricious nature of existence: "What torments my soul is its loneliness. The more it expands among friends and the daily habits or pleasures, the more, it seems to me, it flees me and retires into its fortress... .When one yields oneself completely to one's soul, it opens itself to one, and then it is that the capricious thing allows one the greatest of good fortunes...that of sympathising with others..."

In conclusion, Walt Whitman's words seem to be the parting message this garden in Anacapri has for humanity:

"Just as much for us that sobbing dirge of Nature,
 Just as much whence we come that blare of the cloud-trumpets
 We, capricious, brought hither we know not whence, spread out before you,
 You up there walking or sitting,
 Whoever you are, we too lie in drifts at your feet."

Enjoy the beauty this garden has to offer, but also let your imagination run wild... this is the Isle of Capri we are in...the island of romance, where you could find your heart's true love 'in the shade of an old walnut tree'!
Blue Italian skies above (sigh...)but for now, as in the song, we have to say, "twas goodbye...to the Isle...of Capri."

Romantic Gardens of Bali

After a period of readjustment in my garden blog, I am longing to return to normalcy. I have missed that passion with which I had begun my blog in October 2010. I had neglected my love affair, that fine romance I have with the lovely gardens I had visited lately. To recapture that nostalgia, I shall post about my romance with the evocative Balinese garden.

I was in Bali in July 2010, just when Bali was in the grip of the 'Eat.Pray.Love' fever. Julia Roberts had just finished filming the 'Love' segment of the movie and I suppose romance was in the air since this was the segment where Liz finds love. Walking in the gardens among the ancient temples of this exotic island where paddy fields and bicycle lanes are the norm, not the exception in this rural setting, one can definitely feel the essence of romance here.


These photos help to convey the uniqueness of romantic Balinese gardens. The romance lingers even when you leave Bali...the scent of frangipani flowers, the incense of aromatic prayer sticks, the image of green moss on temple walls, the lilting music of the caklempong and bamboo angklung, the dark-eyed dancers expressing their anquish or joy as the tale unfolds in their cultural dances . So walk with me through these gardens and images of Bali and let's fall in love...

   Walk along the riverbank and savour the bright, beautiful day...feel the joy of being   
   among unique palms and trees.

 

   Breathe in the fresh, unadulterated Bali air.

     Lose yourself in the brilliance of the colours.

    Hear the trumpet flowers making swishing sounds in the wind, heralding your arrival.

 Luxuriate in the cool green shadows of the pines that stretch to the sky.



Embrace that old-world feeling in this rustic setting.



Be welcomed by these petalled water...used in spas to pamper and delight the senses.



Be awed by the skills of the ancient craftsmen whose works of art beautify the gardens.



Be uplifted by the cheery colours of the canna lilies.





Here we say good-bye to this lovely spot on the island of Bali. Truly a garden haven for garden lovers from everywhere in the world.

Temple Garden Of Peace And Harmony

The beauty of this temple garden is not only in its symmetrical design or subdued interplay of colours, but in the feeling of harmony with Nature that it exudes. The use of wooden slats or stones for pathways, natural rocks and and white stone statues bespeak the importance given to harmony of nature in this garden. Take a look at the last photograph where the wooden walkway is built around a boulder that is allowed to remain where it is. This form of landscaping is an illustration of a green design. I guess one does not always have to uproot, unearth or destroy for the benefit of design. The poster below of the poem entitled “Without Words” says it all…different elements of Nature conversing without words…there are no boundaries.

The plum blossoms are all of one variety of sweet pink and white hues. The cool crisp air is invigorating in this pristine haven, a place perfect for meditation. If you are in Auckland, ask for directions to this wonderfully serene garden. I loved the ambiance there and I am sure you will love it too.