Have you been to the National Arboretum in NE Washington, DC? 10 minutes from the capitol. We were just there three weeks ago. An amazing collection of many bonsai, penjing, suiseki. When we were there, there was a juried show of ikebana. The extrordinary bonsai (several are gifts from heads of state from their personal collections) are in a series of pavillions and gardens, including a Japanese stroll garden, a walled Chinese garden, a Chinese scholar's room and an exhibition hall and open-air display areas for the bonsai. Have a wonderful trip! PS - You might get more responses if you post this in the discussions side of the forum.

Don't miss Buena Creek in San Marcos. The owners, Steve and Donna, are terrific, and both the butterfly and the mediterranean demo gardens are carpets of color and texture. Don't miss the original drought tolerant garden on the hill, full of protea and unusual specimans. Here is a link that might be useful: BUENA CREEK GARDENS

Terri, I haven't forgotten you -- just haven't had phone or email for a week. We lost coverage when we got to the Oregon Coast. From there we drove up to Olympic National Park and still were without coverage (I have Verizon phone and Verizon mobile broadband). The Verizon map showed coverage for all of those areas, as well as Victoria, but we didn't have it. Anyway, we are now in Parksville, BC and plan to stay in BC until Monday. I'll give you a call as soon as we have coverage again, but I'll keep updating you here in the meantime.

In addition to the following - it's usually worth a trip into the local Information Centre to ask about gardens open to the public. And a visit to the Auckland City library will also be helpful: there are books on NZ gardens open to the public. Most of them seem to charge around five dollars, though some are less or free. A few URLs to get you started perhaps: all www. marshwoodgardens.co.nz tramplitewalks.co.nz landsendtexotics.co.nz tauponativeplants.co.nz parnassus.co.nz aucklandbotanicgardens.co.nz koanga.org.nz gardens.org.nz heroicgardens.org.nz - based in Ak. Garden tour of LOTS of gardens. Two days - Feb 17-18 projectcrimson.org.nz King Country tour - fax (add all the bits for international) 7 878 4837 Green's Subtropical Gardens - Maungakaramea, Whangarei. Durant Subtropical Garden 40 Trig Rd, Whenuapai, Auckland Waitoka Gardens - north of Taihape 06 388 7822 (ring ahead) Worth a google - Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust Cross Hills, Otari Native Plant Museum, Ayrlies. There are heaps of others - I think the gardens.org.nz link will get you started. If you find you want to particularly follow an interest eg Fuchsias - do ask - and keep asking. If you are members of the Automobile Association, there may be a reciprocal agreement between countries so you can go to branches here and get maps and travel advice. You may also find the regional council offices helpful, and the conservancy or field offices of the Department of Conservation. Hope you enjoy your visit. Oh. A raincoat/umbrella is always prudent, ;-)