Virtual Tours: Gardens Around the World

This is a rerun from 2009, but it was very popular, so here it is for those of you who missed it:


Keukenhof Gardens

This time of year in Upstate New York, we are all dreaming of gardening and traveling. I stumbled upon this great slide show featuring the 13 most amazing gardens in the world:



The Gardens of Versailles

1. Versailles, France
2. Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Scotland (More Pictures)
3. Boboli Gardens, Italy
4. Rikugien Gardens, Japan
5. Claude Monet Gardens at Giverny, France
6. Butchart Garden, Canada
7. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, South Africa
8. Yuyuan Gardens Shanghai, China
9. Abraham Lincoln Memorial Gardens, Springfield IL
10. Exbury Gardens New Forest, England
11. Holland's Keukenhof Gardens
12. Mirabell Garden in Salzburg, Austria
13. Ryoanji Zen Garden in Tokyo, Japan


Monet's Garden

Virtual Tour: Wave Hill - Bronx, NY

"Wave Hill House was built as a country home in 1843 by jurist William Lewis Morris. From 1866-1903 it was owned by William Henry Appleton, who enlarged the house in 1866-69 and again in 1890. A publishing scion, Appleton brought to Wave Hill such pioneering natural scientists as Thomas Henry Huxley. Huxley was astounded by the site, declaring the Palisades across the river one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

Theodore Roosevelt's family rented Wave Hill during the summers of 1870 and ‘71, when the future president was a youth of 12 and 13. Teddy's time here significantly deepened his love of nature and love of the outdoors that would later prompt him to secure the preservation of millions of acres of American parkland.

Mark Twain leased the estate from 1901-1903, setting up a treehouse parlor in the branches of a chestnut tree on the lawn. Of winter at Wave Hill he wrote, I believe we have the noblest roaring blasts here I have ever known on land; they sing their hoarse song through the big tree-tops with a splendid energy that thrills me and stirs me and uplifts me and makes me want to live always."

Part of the New York City Parks Department, "Wave Hill is [now] a 28-acre public garden and cultural center in the Bronx overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. Its mission is to celebrate the artistry and legacy of its gardens and landscapes, to preserve its magnificent views, and to explore human connections to the natural world through programs in horticulture, education and the arts."









Visit Wave Hill later in March and you will see the heralds of spring Chionodoxa sardensis (a very early blooming bulb) and Helleborus sp. (Victoria's favorite spring perennial). You will also be able to see the winter forms of many different species and varieties of trees.

"A trail winds through the Herbert and Hyonja Abrons Woodland, which wraps around the outer edges of Wave Hill. These 10 acres of second-growth forest and meadow are being rehabilitated with native plants. Featured plants include black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), yellowwood (Cladrastis lutea), shadbush (Amelanchier species) and native ferns and wildflowers."

Although if you visit in summer, you will be treated with not only an exquisite flower garden but also the charming herb garden - pictured below.



"The stone foundations of a former greenhouse reflect and retain the sun’s warmth, and provide these connected garden areas with a strong architectural continuity. Narrow beds and paths invite close observation. Ornamental, culinary, and medicinal herbs from around the world make their home in the Herb Garden. Highlights include mints (Mentha species), pomegranate (Punica granatum), teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) and bay laurel (Laurus nobilis). Silver plants predominate in the Dry Garden, where a selection of plants from warmer and drier regions of the world include ornamental sages (Salvia), lavenders (Lavandula), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and Euphorbias."











Quotes and images taken from the Wave Hill website.

Location:
West 249th Street and Independence Avenue (front gate)
Bronx, NY 10471-2899

Hours
Tuesday-Sunday
Closed Mondays except Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day
Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas

April 15-October 14: 9am–5:30pm
October 15-April 14: 9am–4:30pm

Tours

Free garden and Conservatory tours begin at the Perkins Visitor Center Sundays at 2pm
Guided group tours are also available.

Greenhouses
10am–noon, 1–4pm

Galleries
10am–4:30pm.

Café and Shop
10am–4:30pm

Admission
Free to Members and children under 6
$8 Adults

$4 Students and Seniors 65+

$2 Children 6+

Target Free Days
Tuesday: Free all day during off-peak months (November–April, July & August)
Tuesday: Free 9am to noon during peak months (May, June, September, October)
Saturday: Free 9am to noon year-round

Parking (effective May 1, 2008)

Onsite: $8 per vehicle
Nearby offsite parking is free with continuous, complimentary shuttle van service.

Virtual Tour: Hudson Vally Gardens - Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst, a grand historic Gothic Revival estate, and an outstanding example of 19th-century landscape design. The Rose Garden includes 100 varieties of roses designed in a circular pattern, while the Fern Garden is bordered by a rock garden. An 1870 conservatory greenhouse remains on site with outdoor plants, one of the largest private greenhouses in the world at the time.

(This virtual tour will definitely be revisited in the summer months after a real visit because there were not enough photographs of the grounds available - 67 acres and I'm afraid these were the only pictures I could find:)



Lyndhurst is located on Route 9 in the village of Tarrytown with spectacular Hudson River views. It is a historic site of the National Trust and is one of the great domestic landmarks of America. A visit to the house and its 67-acre park is a must for all who are interested in 19th-century architecture, decorative arts, and landscape design.


Lyndhurst is Open
Mid-April to October

Daily (Closed Mondays, except holidays)
10am - 5pm; last admission at 4:15pm
November to Mid-April

Weekends only: 10am - 4pm
Last Tour at 3:30pm



I was a little disappointed with the photos available on the Lyndhurst website - don't they know a picture's worth a thousand words? I did find some visitor photos and there a re certainly plenty of "weddings at Lydhurst" photos.

Virtual Tour: Hudson Valley Gardens - Kykuit

Our winter virtual tours continue. Hopefully this will inspire a real trip because it is so close. Hard to think about while the snow is still coming down? That's what daydreams and the internet are for.

"Kykuit (pronounced cake-eight), home to four generations of the Rockefeller dynasty, offers magnificent views of the Hudson River from the palatial estate. The remarkable beaux-arts landscape was created by William Welles Bosworth between 1907 and 1913. Formal gardens include the Rose Garden, Morning and Brook gardens, Italian garden, Adam and Eve Fountain area, and several terraced areas featuring sculptures by Henry Moore, Gaston Lachaise, Aristide Maillol, Alexander Calder, and others.

An elegant, neo-classical mansion sited high above the Hudson River, you enter Boscobel through the apple orchard to the formal rose garden with its central fountain. There are over 140 varieties of roses and 600 separate plants on display in the garden. The one-mile Woodland Trail winds through 29 acres of wooded landscape with rustic structures, and features spectacular vistas of the river."

-prepared by Hudson Valley Tourism
www.travelhudsonvalley.org









For many more images click here - a visitor (and good photographer!) captured over a hundred images featuring the sculptures and gardens of Kykuit.



Kykuit is reached from the Visitor's Center at Philipsburg Manor, located on Route 9 in the village of Sleepy Hollow.

Kykuit is Open
May 9 to Nov. 1, Nov. 6-8

Visitor Center opens at 9am

Daily except Tuesdays: Various Tours

For More Information
Call 914.631.8200 Monday through Friday or 914.631.3992 on weekends

Virtual Tour: (with Jane Austin) Chatsworth Estate, Darbyshire, England

Jane Austen’s description of Pemberley in the novel Pride and Prejudice is said to have been based on The Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire (pictured above). So we continue our our series of world-wide virtual tours with a visit to the peak district in northern England.

I found a special fare for only $808 round trip, but it leaves from Newark to Manchester and you'll fly back to JFK. (Maybe you have nice friend who will drop you off and pick up from the different airports).

Where will you stay? How about on the estate itself? Chatsworth has holiday cottages (7 nights for 4 people for as little as £474.00 -for the week) so you can roam the property and reread P&P.

As Lizzy says about falling in love with Mr. Darcy...

"It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley."

If you plan your trip for summer (and for your viewing pleasure) this is a wonderful slide show on flickr from a visitor who captured the grandeur of the house and some great shots of the lupines and blue poppies.

And here are some more quotes about Pemberley from Pride and Prejudice:

"Every disposition of the ground was good; and she looked on the whole scene, the river, the trees scattered on its banks, and the winding of the valley, as far as she could trace it."







"They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road with some abruptness wound. It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills;—and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in her admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!"













But even visiting in the winter, the grounds are beautiful.

Peat Eliminator: Help Save The World!

Perhaps the biggest contribution of peat bogs to a healthy environment is as “global coolers,” helping to fight climate change. As the mosses grow, they absorb carbon dioxide, which is locked up within the plant structure as the plants turn to peat. Scientists think these bogs contain more carbon than all the world’s tropical rain forests. But when the bogs are drained for peat extraction or otherwise disturbed, the peat starts to decompose and the carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere, where it acts as a potent greenhouse gas.

In the U.K., the National Trust estimates that country’s bogs store carbon equivalent to about 20 years’ worth of national industrial emissions. Fearful that two centuries of damage is causing the bogs to dry out, releasing the carbon into the atmosphere, the Trust is urging the government to conserve and protect the country’s declining number of peat bogs as a way of curbing climate change. And, in fact, peat extraction is legislated to cease there by 2012.

Not only is recolonization by the native flora and fauna probably not going to happen, the complex water tables in adjacent undrained areas are also put under threat.

Peat sold for the purpose of gardening is not a renewable resource and is destroying internationally vital plants and wildlife sites that have taken more than 10,000 years to develop.

So what is the alternative to help the composition of your soil AND help save the world?
Coconuts.
Yes, finely shredded coconut shells offer all the benefits of peat, but coconuts are a renewable resource and a cash crop for emerging third-world nations like Philippines, Indonesia, India, Brazil, Thailand, and Vietnam.

One new coconut product is called Peat Eliminator and it comes in a small light-weight brick. You wet it down the same way you would Peat Moss and this small brick absorbs water and fills an entire wheelbarrow! Then you add it to your garden when you are planting or anytime to improve your soil.

• Each bag expands to 2.3cu.ft.
• Guaranteed better and is longer lasting than peat moss - only needs replacement every two years instead of every year
• pH neutral
• Absorbs water every time and retains more water
• Provides excellent aeration and drainage
• Coir-based, which is a fiber found in the hulls of coconuts
• Eco-friendly and non-toxic.
  
  Currently available in 8.25 lb bag.

Please email us if you are interested in this peat eliminator product: victoriagardens.ny@gmail.com

Virtual Tour: Hudson Valley - Innisfree Garden

Our previous post was a virtual garden tour in Kyoto, Japan. As a note, I mentioned there are Japanese Gardens to visit right here in New York, but alas, it's February (sigh).

So here is a virtual tour of Innisfree in Millbrook, NY. If you haven't visited there in person, you must! Visit in the spring when the primula are blooming (smack-dab in the middle of a flowing stream - the tag is not exaggerating when it says they like wet conditions!) and when the fountains that shoot water thirty feet in the air are surrounded by daffodils. And then visit again in the summer to see the wall of peonies in full bloom.













(note: the tree in the center of this photo is a standardized dappled willow - one of our favorite trees!)

"Innisfree Garden lies in the hollow which surrounds Tyrrel Lake; low wooded hills give the site enclosure. Innisfree embraces the Eastern design concept of asymmetric balance that combines rhythm, pattern, space and form in a harmony independent of formal symmetry. In Western gardens little is hidden. The garden, like a stage set, is there in its entirety; its overall design revealed at a glance. The traditional Eastern garden hides this complete view. Visitors walk into a series of episodes or pictures and can enter the sequence of pictures wherever they choose. The rugged topography of the Innisfree site invariably enframes these pictures called cup gardens. A garden picture may be composed of several small cup gardens within the larger one. "

The walk around the lake is an easy two mile loop, although dogs are not allowed. Admission to visit the garden is $5 for anyone older than 4 years old.

For more Innisfree Garden photos visit their website.