A WALK AROUND BROOKSIDE GARDENS, MARYLAND ON TUESDAY, MAY 4TH, 2021 - PART 2

It was such a beautiful day to take a walk, made even better by these picturesque surroundings.

Not far from the bridge there was another bench and we sat for a while taking it all in.  On each bench is a small plaque engraved with the name or names of persons who want to be remembered.  This was behind us.

There were also occasional reminders to slow down and enjoy nature.

I would love one of these trees in our garden.  Do you have one?  When the sunlight shone on its leaves it was gorgeous, hard to capture in a photograph.

Many of you will recognize the Japanese maple, also known as Red emperor maple, Palmate maple and Smooth japanese maple.  It's botanical name is Acer palmatum.

This kind of maple tree originated from northeast Asia.  The Japanese horticultural communities have selectively bred it for centuries and cultivated more than 1000 gardening species.  Therefore, they are often called Japanese maple, although it is also native to Korea, China, and even regions of Russia and Mongolia.  

The following photo shows a Carolina allspice, a species of Sweetshrub.  It is also known as the Bubby bush, Eastern sweetshrub, Sweet Betsy, Sweet bubby bush, Sweet shrub, Common sweetshrub and Carolina sweetshrub.  

It's botanical name is Calycanthus floridus.  It has reddish brown flowers that interestingly have a banana-strawberry fragrance. The leaves when crushed also have a very pleasant aroma.  Both these parts of the plant, the leaves and the flower, can be put into potpourris.  Even the bark exudes a pleasant smell.  

The Carolina allspice gets its name from its aroma, which smells like a combination of spices, especially cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.  I borrowed the following photo online.

It is a perennial and blooms in late spring and summer.

The blooms shown above are from the Red buckeye, also known as Scarlet buckeye, Firecracker plant, Buckeye tree and Woolly buckeye.  Its botanical name is Aesculus pavia.  This is widely planted for its beautiful flowers and these flowers are very attractive to birds and bees.

The plant is named Red buckeye for the color of the flowers, and the similarity of the seed to a deer or buck's eye.  You can see how the tree looks in my post from yesterday, the trees with the pink blooms in the fifth photo, and part of one in the foreground on the 7th of that post.

Here you can see leaves from the Ginkgo tree, also known as Maidenhair tree and Kew tree.  Its botanical name is Ginkgo biloba.

Ginkgo is a living fossil - a tree with such a long history that there are recognizable fossils dating to as much as 170 million years ago, to the Middle Jurassic period.  Ginkgo is considered one of the earliest plant species, the only living plant species in the order of Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago, and cultivated by humans throughout history.  It is the oldest tree species in the world.  

Referring to its other name Maidenhair tree, it was given the name maidenhair tree, in England, because the leaves look similar to the native maidenhair fern.  The word Ginkgo comes from the Chinese yinxing meaning 'silver apricot'.  The last time I remember seeing a Ginkgo tree was in Williamsburg, Virginia  There is one in the historical part of the town, on the main street.  It turns a glorious gold in the Fall.

According to my plant app “Picture This”, which is where I get most my information, this is a Norway Maple.  Also known as Great maple, Plane maple and Harlequin maple.  Its Botanical name is Acer platanoides.  It can grow to a height of 40 to 50 feet, occasionally exceeding 90 feet.  The Norway maples originate from Europe, populating from Norway towards southern Europe.  It symbolizes perseverance.  

I was very taken with the sphere sculpture below, and was happy to find the person's website who created it.  If you click here you can read how it was built.  

It is very rare that I can find info on a sculpture I like in such detail.  The person who created it is Devin Devine based in Pennsylvania.  He used Pennsylvania bluestone.  (Devin is a stone sculpture and hardscaping contractor.)

One of the things I enjoyed reading at his site was the following:

"Pennsylvania Bluestone was formed at the bottom of subterranean lakes around 360 million years ago during what is called the Devonian Period, quarried mostly in North Eastern Pennsylvania along the Pennsylvania and New York border.  It is sandstone containing feldspar and small amounts of mica.  It is called bluestone but comes in a variety of colors, depending on the mineral content."

More information on bluestone can be found at this link also.  Just scroll down a bit until you come to photo of the bluestone wall.  There is also a great diagram of how these layers formed millions of years ago.  (Information online is like a ripple in a pond.)  Interestingly so, this site also mentions information on bluestone at Stonehenge in the UK.  Some of the rocks there contain Bluestone.  The site goes on to mention other parts of the world where this stone has been found.  

This is the end of Part 2.  There will be a Part 3 of these gardens, but I have a couple of posts to share before those.

A WALK AROUND BROOKSIDE GARDENS, MARYLAND ON TUESDAY, MAY 4TH, 2021 - PART 1

This trip was taken before the recent gasoline crisis on the East Coast.  We were fortunate to get our car filled up, which was not too far from empty, after driving by a dozen gas stations.  Most of them were closed in our immediate area, and the one or two that were open had lines stretching a very long way.  Hubby drove into Manassas the next morning, and after passing several that were closed, on his way home he found one place, still in Manassas, where there was only one person ahead of him on each gas pump.  I do hope you had no problems if you had to get into work.  

After an hour-and-a-half mini road trip we reached Brookside Gardens.  We haven't been here in about four years and we were very happy to get back as it is a gorgeous garden.  This year we will try to visit some favorites during each season.  

There weren't many empty parking spaces left (there are other parking lots in other areas also) but the garden is large enough that you don't get that overcrowded feeling, a few people here and there.

This is a link to a Facebook page where you can see photos and information.  At Trip Advisor you can see even more photos and read what people have to say about it here.  

Brookside is an award-winning 50-acre public display garden as I read, and it is situated within Wheaton Regional Park. 

I have been to the Butterfly exhibit in years’ past and look forward to going again, hopefully next time we go.  (I always look forward to seeing the butterflies no matter where we are.)  You can visit an Aquatic Garden, Azalea Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese-Style Garden, Trial Garden, Rain Garden and the Woodland Walk. 

Added note: I have just learned that the butterfly exhibit, Wings of Fancy, will not be opened this year because of health concerns due to Covid.  

The Formal Garden areas include a Perennial Garden, Yew Garden, the Maple Terrace and the Fragrance Garden.  It has two conservatories for year round enjoyment, and a wedding gazebo.

The garden is open daily and there is no admission charge.  All this information came from here where you will get up-to-date information if you would like to visit.  At the time of preparing this post, it said the Visitor Center is open from 10.00 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.  The Gift Shop is open from 10.00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday to Monday (closed on Tuesday).  The Conservatory is open from Thursday to Sunday via free-timed tickets only, with entry at 11.00 a.m. and 12.00 p.m.

I learned of its history at that site also.  The garden grounds were originally part of a landscaping and garden center on a small farm owned by the Stadler Nurseries.  

Brookside Gardens opened to the public on July 13th, 1969, with a conservatory and 25 acres developed as gardens.  The landscaping and conservatory were designed by Hans Hanses and Carl Schoening respectively.  

More gardens have been added and refined to showcase local species over the current 54 acres.  A donation from Elizabeth Turley made possible the construction of a Visitors Center which opened in June 1998, along with a classroom and meeting space.

There were several very nice sitting areas and we made use of a couple of them.  People walked around, smiled and said hello.  

We were all very happy to be out and about.

I will have a lot more to share from here when I can put a post together.  Thank you for looking at these garden photos, and I hope your day is a great one.

IF WE DO NOT TAKE CARE...