An English Girl Rambles from 2016 to ....: Paul J Ciener Botanical Garden_Winston Salem

Showing posts with label Paul J Ciener Botanical Garden_Winston Salem_NC. Show all posts

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.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

PAUL J. CIENER BOTANICAL GARDEN, KERNERSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

This is the second garden we went to when we were in North Carolina a few weeks ago. It is the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden. You can learn of its history here. A short bio of the man it was named after states that Paul Ciener grew up in Florida and had a great love of horticulture. He visited botanical gardens all over the United States and overseas. In 1975 he moved to Kernersville with his family, where he opened up a Ford dealership. Feeling that the community had given him so much, it was his wish to pay forward back to the community. His love of plants set in motion the garden that we toured today.

It was a lovely visitor center. We met two ladies at the information desk, one of whom gave us a very good description of the garden as she showed us the map. She explained that there was a lot of land to expand on, but that we would still find many wonderful blooms growing, and also there was a vegetable garden at the back of the center, and to be sure to take a look at it, which we did. The garden is another work in progress and it will be very nice to go back in a few years to see the results.

I was very taken with the fact that there were lots of flowers in the parking lot, around the edge and also separating the parking spots. There were dozens of butterflies and bees to enjoy, and I spent a lot of time taking photos before I set foot inside the visitor center.