Wednesday, September 4, 2019

LAST POST FROM PAUL J. CIENER BOTANICAL GARDEN

If you missed my first post on Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, it can be found here.
It was a very pretty garden, beautifully laid out with more land to be expanded upon.  I forgot to mention before that there is no admission charge but there is a donation box in the visitor center. 
And the flowers were gorgeous!
I have not identified all of these pretty blooms, as I think most know what they are.  If there is someone who doesn't, please let me know and I will find its name.
Being surrounded by flowers always makes me feel bright and sunny.




More good advice for all of us.
I thought I would ID this Trumpet Vine.
I would like to know what the fan-like plant is among the sunflowers, some kind of cactus perhaps.  I saw something very similar but it was a photo without ID.
I think this bee is feeling the joy.


We visited the kitchen garden which was right next to the visitor center.  I was very happy to see that all produce harvested is donated to area food relief shelters.
The large water-filled container below is a Sugarcane Kettle - circa 1800s. It was used in the early 19th Century.  The kettle was being used as a water feature.

There was what I thought might be some kind of carnivorous plant on top of the water, similar to something I found at the following link, which are called Sarracenia pitcher bug eaters. You can read about carnivorous plants here where you will see different kinds.  It is hard to tell from my photos if my ID is correct, but I liked their reflection from a photographic point of view.  Unfortunately I didn't take much notice of the plant at the time, as I was more interested in the kettle and also the pattern of the stonework surrounding it.

 Continuing our walk in the kitchen garden, we came across the tomatoes.
The nearby marker said they were Sungold Cherry Tomatoes.
Another marker identified this as a Black Beauty Eggplant.
Coming up next, 'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard
'Cinnamon' Basil, so named because when the leaves are crushed, they smell of cinnamon.
Sweet Basil, scientifically known as Ocimum basilicum.

Next is the Cubanelle Pepper
I am thinking this may be a stink bug laying eggs on a 'Marketmore' cucumber leaf.  I didn't see the eggs until I cropped the photo later. 
The following is called the Botanical Fainting Couch created by Sarah Peters.  You can see more of her creation here.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in this garden, but it is important to manage expectations.  It is a lot smaller than many others we have visited at this point in time (July 2019), still a work in progress as I have mentioned before.  Very much worth the visit, a real gem of a place, and I wouldn't hesitate to visit again next time we find ourselves in that area.  It will be fun to see it grow and when we were there, we felt that the landscapers had done an amazing job!

This is my last post on the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden.  




38 comments:

  1. What a wonderful tour!! Some of my favorites are the fan plant, the Pitcher Plant reflections, the huge hibiscus, and the bee. Excellent photos, and I now feel as if I had been there!

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    1. That's great Ginny and it makes me very happy that you feel that way :)

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  2. Wow. What an amazing place - and what a SPECTACULAR bee butt.

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  3. That place looks stunning, love ypur photos, I wish I could be There ☺

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  4. This is a magnificent garden and your photographs are wonderful. Th close up of the bee is fabulous. Have a good day.

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  5. Belas fotografias deste magnifico jardim e aproveito para desejar a continuação de uma boa semana.

    Andarilhar
    Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
    O prazer dos livros

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    1. Obrigado! Estou feliz que você tenha gostado do jardim. Desejo-lhe um feliz dia e continuação de boa semana.

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  6. Thanks for this beautiful tour, ahh.

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    1. You are very welcome Christine, so glad you enjoyed it :)

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  7. your photos are just PERFECT Wow! my favorite is the fan shaped plant in the sunflowers. I do love sunflowers. and the 2nd place goes to The Bug. love it. you gave us the wow factor of this garden. good it is donation not admission. ours here have gone really high. 18 to 20 dollars for most of them and the museums are the same. in the past I visited all of them and it was under 10.

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    1. Hi Sandra, thank you. It's very nice that the garden has free admission. We are lucky up here with our Smithsonian Museums too. All free of charge.

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  8. Oh what a beautiful place. Such lovely flowers and such an inviting looking adventure.

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  9. I could spend hours in a place like this. There is just something about a garden that I find so peaceful and calming.

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    1. Hi Sharon :) I could have spent more time too, found a bench in the shade and stayed there for an hour.

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  10. Great pictures. I feel as though I am strolling through the garden with you. I'd love to know what that fan like plant is too--as well as those huge leaves in the third picture from the top.

    P.S. Picture of that stink bug laying eggs is amazing. I really dislike stinkbugs though. I live in an apartment, so my garden is on my balcony, and they have destroyed so many of my plants.

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    1. Thanks GGG :) Glad you enjoyed and I know, the stinkbugs are not exactly welcome in anyone's garden, no matter where it is. Sorry to hear about your plants :(

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  11. Piękny ogród .Znam tego owada faktycznie brzydko pachnie ;)) Pozdrawiam:)

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    1. Dziękuję Natalio, tak rzeczywiście :) Doceniam twoje komentarze. Życzę szczęśliwego weekendu!

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  12. gorgeous blooms and bees....and that stink bug, what an amazing picture!!

    this looks like a beautiful garden!!

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    1. Thank you Debbie, glad you enjoyed my photos :) It was indeed a very beautiful garden :)

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  13. Denise, thank you for the lovely garden tour. I must say your bee photo is Amazing! I adore gardens and I'm so glad that they will be continuing to expand. Gardens make life better.

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    1. Hi Martha Ellen, thank you and I agree, they certainly do make life better :)

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  14. Enjoyed seeing all the blooms, Denise, but the stink bug not so much. These insects were one of the banes of our VA gardens.

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    1. Thanks Dorothy, and yes I know, stink bugs are a bane to all gardeners :) I still find them fascinating though, as I do all insects.

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  15. Great photos, this looks like a wonderful garden. Sometimes it is not how big a garden is, it is how well the space is managed. I really really love being around flowers and I love it when gardens are well landscaped with all sorts of features.

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    1. Hi Yogi, agree totally with everyone of your comments. Thank you :)

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  16. I would be happy to visit this place...that cucmber beetle laying eggs is an amazing shot. There is just so much that I like in this post (as well as the other one that I commented on a while back.) It is hard to remember all there is...I like that fainting couch...and loved the flowers...I am afraid I would have been like you with those plants in that water. I am all the time getting focused on one part of something, then get home and wish I had take more shots...that is usual for me with flowers that I don't know. I always come home and wonder why didn't I take photos of it's leaves, etc.

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  17. Looks like a great garden! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. You are very welcome Linda, happy you enjoyed it :)

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  18. Beautiful place ... I’m having a great time catching up here .... . I admire flowers (wild and cultivated) for their beauty but don’t seem to have a driving need to learn their names. Thank you for sharing this gorgeous place (the vegetables are wonderfulntoo... I’m hungry now for Swiss Chard, a veg I’d kind of forgotten about. Must check at the farm store..... also the pic with the bee is super!

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    1. Hi Sallie, and you are very welcome. Thank you, I am so happy you are enjoying my posts. I can understand about the ID but I enjoy finding out the names. Some I recognize, a lot I don't. Sometimes I find them, sometimes I don't. I enjoyed the veggies in the kitchen garden. I don't think I have ever eaten Swiss Chard and seeing it made me want to put it on my shopping list.

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