LATEST WALK AROUND GREEN SPRING GARDENS ON 4-15-22 - PART 1

We were at the gardens on April 14th.  It was a gorgeous day and far too good to stay inside.  

I also wanted to see the dogwoods while they were still blooming.  We are thinking of planting them to replace the two trees that we had to cut down.  The white ones are my favorite as they were the first kind I ever saw.  We drive out into the country and see them growing wild in amongst all the other trees.  It is a lovely sight.  

The pink ones are spectacular too and these were at the lower end of the garden.  

We have both in our neighborhood, which look stunning.  Our son and daughter-in-law mentioned them, how beautiful they looked, when heading over recently.  

But, I have a bee in my bonnet about the white and would like to plant those.  Dear Other Half doesn't have a strong opinion and would be happy with both.  Looking at these, however, well.....

We usually take the pathway next to the old house, but we wanted to go to the ponds today.  We walked the narrow road down the hill instead.

A kind person had found a pair of sunglasses and popped them on top of the sign where, hopefully, they will be found before their owner leaves the garden.  As you can see, the garden gates are closed at five.  We have in the past arrived at a later hour and was glad we read the sign.  You can still walk around, probably until it starts to get dark, and we have left our car on the other side of the gate.  It is only a short walk to the garden.  One time we wanted to go during that golden hour for photo taking, and remembering the sign, we parked beyond the gate.  We did not have a problem finding a spot as most people had left by then.

I did not think I would be seeing any more daffodils, but there were many on our way to the ponds.  

I have seen paler daffodils - narcissus? - but not the frilly kind.  The closest I could get to identifying these was Double Daffodils - Sir Winston Churchill.  

You can see if you agree at this link.  The website here has them for sale.

There are many benches throughout the garden, and we always make use of one that is right next to the water.  

Gregg is taking photos of the fish.

I am sitting on our favorite bench.  From where I am, it is a good place to watch for activity on the water.  I was hoping for birds but came across something very interesting.

A couple were on the edge peering down and then the gentleman exclaimed very loudly.  He turned round to where I was sitting, and said there were huge fish just under the surface, come and see!  His excitement and enthusiasm made me smile and as I recognized another nature lover, I walked over.  We chatted for a while and Gregg joined us.  The gentleman told me he thought they were American Carp.  I couldn't get a decent photo of the big ones but they were well over four-feet in length.

The smaller swam towards us and stayed in place for a while, opening and closing their mouths as they usually do.  It didn't take long to realize they were waiting for us to feed them.

I thanked the couple.  We have never seen fish this big before and we look into the water on every visit, checking out the much smaller ones.  These were a surprise.  The Great Blue Heron we occasionally see fishing will have a hard time picking one up for dinner.

We also got a decent photo of a Male Northern Cardinal, as curious about us as we were about him perhaps?

And I'm thinking this is a House sparrow.  What do you think?

And an American Robin.  Gregg took the bird photos.

We leave the pond and walk along the trail through the wood.  The bark of trees interests us both and Gregg also took the next photo.   On doing a little research (please let me know if you think it is something else), this is a River birch tree, also known as Water birch, Black birch and Swamp birch.  River birch is a strong but knotty wood.  It is sometimes used to make woodenware and furniture, but it is not usually used for commercial lumber.  Native Americans would boil the sap to make a sweetener and would even eat the inner bark when food was scarce.  It is also a food source for many wild birds and even deer.

One last photo taken by my Dear Other Half, and that is one of the creek.  There is a bridge we cross over before going up the hill.

I will end here as there are more photos to share.  I hope you have enjoyed Part 1.

Thank you for visiting today's blog post.  

May your day be a happy one.