Friday, September 18, 2020

GREEN SPRING GARDENS, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA - PART 2

Continuing from my previous post of our walk - you can find Part 1 here - in the photo below we are looking back at the front of the house.  There is a gift shop and tea room inside.  We haven't had a meal there yet, but it is on our list when things start getting back to normal.

This is the same house that we had walked behind.  The people who owned this home must have enjoyed their large garden at the back.  It is a very large grassy area and is edged with beds of pretty plants and flowers.

I didn't know whether the fruits were edible or ornamental from the Red Date tree, but from what I read they are edible.  However, there is no way I would eat one without the advice of an expert.  It is the first time we have been here where the fruit has been visible.
I have enjoyed finding out their names, always looking for a marker first and then using my plant app.  If I am not convinced of an ID I will research them on line.  A fun activity when I get home as I go through the photos.
In one of my previous posts there were hundreds of these pods that had dried up and dropped onto the ground.  I am sharing that photo again below.  I checked on line and there is a site that sells 800 of them for $55 dollars.  People use them for crafts, ornament making, wreathes and more practically as a mulch.
The dried pod photo was taken when we were here in February of this year.  Here's what they looked like when we were at the garden the other day.
I am very happy to be able to see the butterflies before the colder months.  There were also a lot of bees around.  I feel the same about them.  Two of the many things in nature that I enjoy.
The first time I saw a Peruvian Lily was in a birthday bouquet Gregg gave me the first year we were married.  I am drawn to them every time now and am very sentimental about this pretty flower.
What an interesting name for a plant.  Its other names are Button Eryngo, Button Snakeroot, Beargrass or Bear's Grass.  Its scientific name is Eryngium yuccifolium.
The bushes were overflowing with these bright red berries.  They attract songbirds, cedar waxwings, cardinals, blue jays and many other back yard birds, and they feast on the berries in late autumn.  They are poisonous for humans and can be mildly hallucinogenic for the birds.
These Rice-paper leaves are very large and can grow up to 20 inches.  It produces white flowers which the birds are very attracted to.  It is a shrub or small tree of the ginseng family, and is native to southern China and Taiwan.  It is the source of rice paper.  The central tissues of the stem are split and pressed into thin sheets used for surgical dressings and as watercolor paper.  Fascinating what you find out isn't it?
I still have a few more flowers but I am winding down this post now, with a promise that I will share others as time goes on.  
A lovely path behind a vegetable garden.  I like to take it every time I come here.
Here's my doggy fix!  Such a cute four legged friend having a walk with his family.
This little chap was making his way along the fence near the children's garden.
And we were very happy to find a Goldfinch before we left the garden.  
Gregg and I both enjoy taking photos when we are at Green Spring.  I have identified his by providing a watermark at the bottom.

I hope you have enjoyed Part 2 of our walk.  

Take good care of yourselves out there and I wish you all a very happy weekend.









52 comments:

  1. So much loveliness to enjoy, thanks for taking us along.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. You are very welcome Amalia, so glad you enjoyed :) xo

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  2. Such a beautiful tour. I really loved it, especially since we cannot go anywhere anymore. And believe it or not, I did not know a single one of these! They are ALL new to me!

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    1. Our virtual traveling is always enjoyable isn't it Ginny? I feel the same way when I visit your blog :) Happy you enjoyed the flowers, many of them I learned about that day.

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  3. Certainly is a nice house and gardens. Thanks for sharing once again.

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    1. Hi Margaret, you are very welcome. I like the house and garden also and try to imagine what it must have been like for the owners before they turned it over to the park authority. Now we are all enjoying it, a lovely legacy of theirs.

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  4. I did enjoy it. Thank you.
    I have peruvian lilies growing in our garden - and love them.
    The Sweet Chestnut pods look quite similar to Liquid Amber pods - which are truly vicious to tread on, but do have a beauty of their own.

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    1. That's great EC and thank you! I would imagine we would have a problem with them too but yes in their own way they are quite beautiful. I like the name, Liquid Amber pods.

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  5. Replies
    1. Muito obrigado! Um abraço e um bom fim de semana :)

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  6. Hello Denise,
    What a lovely stroll through the gardens. The flowers are beautiful. I have seen similar pods called Sweet Gum pods. The Peruvian Lily is gorgeous. Love the sweet dog and the Goldfinch. Take care, enjoy your day! Wishing you a happy weekend!

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    1. Thank you Eileen and a happy weekend to you also :)

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  7. that house is so beautiful, love the look of the double chimneys. nice back yard for crochet.. not sure is that is spelled correctly. i like the chestnuts on the tree and offf

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    1. I agree Sandra, I love it! I'm sure there were a lot of fun activities in that yard. I like chestnuts too. Used to get them from the chestnut cart man when I was young, always in the wintertime :)

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  8. Such a lovely visit, enjoyed your gorgeous photos!

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  9. You don't miss a thing. I'm amazed at ho much background information you have and that you know the plants by their latin names.

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  10. That Peruvian Lily is so pretty. Such a lovely spot to visit.

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    1. It is, many beautiful places in the world, this is one of them :) Thanks Ellen :)

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  11. Replies
    1. Thank you William, that little pup made my day :)

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  12. So lovely......

    All the photos....

    And.....

    Doesn't it sound Lovely! To be able to dine in a Tea Room, again???

    🍁✨🍁

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  13. Your visit really makes me wish we could go there, Denise. Your photos are wonderful as always. The photo of the dried "chestnuts" are sweet gum balls from the sweet gum tree. I know this tree as we used to have several of them on our property. We used to bribe our children to pick them up!

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    1. Hello Martha Ellen and thank you :) also for the info on the sweet gum balls. Sounds like a fun and productive chore for the kids.

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  14. wow...as always, a beautiful tour & wonderful set of photos with great background info! (gonna check out previous post now)

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  15. I love the Rice Paper plant...I would love to have some growing here.

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    1. Thank you Rose and must admit that would be nice to have these in our garden :)

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  16. Magnificent post about a gorgeous garden. It must have been amazing to live in that home and look at the garden throughout the year. Thanks for the adventure.

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    1. Thank you Carol and you are very welcome. I agree, it must have been wonderful to live there :)

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  17. Lovely plants and trees. I wish I could have a garden like that one, but I have crippling arthritis and so does David.

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    1. So sorry about the arthritis Gigi. I am happy that we have these gardens to enjoy, and am grateful to their many volunteer and professional gardeners who make it as beautiful as it is for us all to enjoy :)

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  18. ooooh the purple flowers with the swallowtail butterfly is exquisite. i too enjoyed the fence with the birdhouses, i always say i am going to do that and i never do. i must put it on my bucket list for spring!!

    i enjoyed this post and your knowledge of the flowers. have a wonderful weekend!!!

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    1. I knew you would like those purple flowers Debbie :) I look forward to those photos of your fence and bird houses, most definitely. You have a wonderful weekend too :)

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  19. Wonderful photographs, I especially like the Peruvian Lily.
    Wishing you a happy weekend.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thank you Jan, yes those Peruvians are lovely. Happy weekend also and all the best :)

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  20. What a nice retreat you found!
    On one of our hikes last week I found a plant that my ID app called Rattlesnake Master. I had never heard of it before and now you have on this post.

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    1. A retreat is a good word for it Yogi, thank you :) It's fun to discover new plants. I know you are enjoying your new plant app. I love mine.

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  21. What a lovely place to visit. I'm impressed with your plant identification. I could look it up one day and forget it the next day. Now I must go see part one.

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  22. I enjoyed this continuation and thanks to you and Gregg for the photos too.

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    1. Thank you Dorothy and you are very welcome from the both of us :)

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  23. That's a truly beautiful house. Like you, I like to take photos of plants and flowers I don't know and then look them up later. Yes, it is interesting what you can find out. I had seen that rice-paper plant while living in Taiwan almost 40 years ago as well as so many other plants that we only know as potted plants - there they were big and plentiful.

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    1. Thank you Carola, it is a a pretty house. It's fun to look up the names of flowers isn't it? That must have been a very interesting experience living in Taiwan.

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  24. big garden, beautiful house, lovely flower and fresh fruit...what a nice place.
    Thank you for sharing beautiful photos.

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    1. Thank you Tanza and you are very welcome :) I am always happy you enjoyed.

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