Hard hat' tour of RBG rock garden renovations today!
DH and I had a fun morning today - we got a personal hard hat' tour of the work-in-progress renovations to the rock garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens (on the border between Burlington and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) The rock garden dates back to 1930-31 when it was built in an abandoned quarry as a Depression-era work/beautification project. Services (e.g. water and sewer) were especially in need of updating! The original plan called for it to reopen this spring but the official opening is now planned for next spring - it looks like most of the work should be finished this summer though. There is lots of planting going on now and the construction of the new visitors center is nearing completion. The old tea-house will now be an exhibition space.
From my perspective, one of the great changes is that it is now disabled accessible as there is now a paved, gently sloping path running down into the valley on one side, across the bottom and back up the other side. Perfect! There are still stone stairways too. The lady giving us the tour says the path will be kept clear of snow in the winter to keep the garden accessible year round. She says it's very beautiful in the snow in the winter. It's been almost 20 years since I was last able to visit the rock garden, and we never went there in the winter. It would certainly make for an unusual winter outing for me!
Some pictures:
At the entrance, since 1990, there has been a large Japanese lantern - a gift from Fukuyama, Hamilton's 'sister city'. It's a pretty impressive thing! There are a lot of Japanese maples, evergreen trees, and perennials in the rock garden. It must have an impressive fall color display, and a fall visit is on our to-do list when/if it is open then.
Looking down into the valley/garden - some of the concrete you can see here is the paths, but some of it is watercourse. There is a waterfall that starts to the left of the lantern, cascades over a rock 'staircase' and will flow along a concrete watercourse, then get piped back to the top (i.e. it is not a naturally occurring waterfall - although there are lots of them in the Hamilton area; Hamilton is known as 'the city of waterfalls'.)
Down at the bottom, looking back up towards where the previous picture was taken:
The concrete basin you can see on the right edge of the above picture will contain water lilies - the lily pools:
The building at the top is the visitors center, under construction - note the roof... it is shaped like a leaf!
...for some reason, I can't seem to upload any more pictures! I'll post this and then see if I can add the rest as replies....
Comments (13)
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Upside down floppy hat birdbath in progress
Comments (24)LOVELY!!! And such nice green grass! We are on a severe water restriction right now, are told not to water our grass, it sure is depressing as it just doesn't seem as nice without it! That base is sooo nice too!! Good job! Klinger is doing some awesome stepping stones towards her studio, using cardboard flats and smooshing leaves on the top! I hope she posts some pics! It has inspired me to think about stepping stones to my newest project....See MoreCandlelight Tour - Decorating early
Comments (40)victorian It sounds perfect how you decorate. Love the tree on the porch..they do it around here and it always looks beautiful. I once had a spot light on the house ( on the dim side, just to softly illuminate it, but never with "snow" never seen that, but sounds really nice) one year I did the wreaths wraped in a mix of red and clear lights and it did look pretty.. but that was enough colored lights to last me..lol What is with men and colored lights? we go through the same argument every year..he never wins (smile) Today I went in the attic and started looking through everything..one thing I forgot about (new last year) I bought large size artificial poinsettias "plants" in a Âplanter" in home depot. I took the clear mini lights and wrapped them through the flowers and stems. Placed them on the buffet table (where the large picture of the lady is) on either side of that picture and plugged them in..they really looked pretty. I am going to maybe check ebay..(Carolers) maybe with some luck I can find something that is not a fortune. That is so nice they still do that by you..it happens here once in a blue.. years back, we had adults caroling and they sang really good..but I love to see the kids do it..touches a soft spot. well again..I am looking forward to see your pictures.. hang in there with decorating..I am sure you are doing a great job and you home will loook just beautiful! Ree...See MoreA visit to the renovated RBG rock garden yesterday
Comments (18)ken - '...multi millionaires and hopped across the pond every year to look at gardens' - don't I wish....! :-) floral - thanks for the info re that cotoneaster. I did some additional checking and I don't think I have a place for it... Is it compatible with growing around/ under other - small- shrubs or would it choke then out? katob - If you're visiting Niagara Falls, stop in at the Niagara Botanical Gardens. The Butterfly Conservatory on the grounds of the Botanical Gardens is also very much worth a visit. The RBG rock garden is a short distance away from the main RBG gardens - if you only have time to visit one site, go to the rock garden! Lots and lots to see in a relatively small site. RBG is a huge property of 2000+ acres. Much of it is 'natural lands' and a lot of their resources are devoted to conservation etc. The ornamental gardens are smaller and spread out over several locations - and not as well maintained! - than you might expect. (They are chronically short of funds, and it shows in the maintenance....!) I'm glad you enjoyed the tour - we certainly enjoyed the garden. One picture I meant to post but forgot is this one: I assume it's a beautybush.... It was foaming out of the hill and was visible from almost everywhere in the garden - if you look at the second picture I posted at the start of the thread, you can see it on the left side. Once the flowers finish, it'd would retreat into the green background, but it sure looked good on Thursday!...See MoreThe unusual garden year of 2016
Comments (43)Sometimes the world is so topsy turvy, as texasranger says it's quite alien and unreal. Many years ago, I went on a high school field trip to an abattoir. At the end, they pointed out the pail of red dust (dried blood) and white coarse sand (bone meal). And then added that no part went to waste...and they fed it back to the cows! All my little mind could ask at the time was "But aren't cows vegetarians???" An alien moment for you. Now, I am no scientist, but years later, when mad cow was running rampant, I could not express the same surprise which many did as I remembered that field trip and knew that the groundwork for this had been well laid....See Morewoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
8 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
8 years agoUser
8 years ago
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
8 years ago
Kirstin Zone 5a NW Chicago
8 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agobut I have no urgent need to know what it is,
==>>> you need to find resin in the conifer forum .. he is the cone king ... though he is probably going to insist on close ups ... but ask for his best guess with the pic you have ...
below is a pic of my abies concolor candicans with a blue cone .. i know its not a great pic ... but the best i can do right now
ken
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKen - LOL - it looks like you're the one who has the urgent need to know what it is :-) I have just e-mailed the lady who gave us the tour and asked if she could tell me the botanical name of that tree.... I'm sure she's left for the day by now so I doubt I'll hear from her until next week sometime - if she replies at all! If I get an answer, I'll post it here. I didn't look very closely at the tree and my point-and-shoot picture is not very good. DH took some pictures I think and I'll see if any of them would provide the detail you are looking for - he has a wicked lens on the camera (he's a 'birder' and gets incredible detail and resolution that allows for VERY close zooming/cropping of pictures....) From my somewhat vague recollection of the tree, I agree that your pictures look very much like it. I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of conifers so didn't look very close, other than to say 'pretty blue; neat cones, and 'I'd bet Ken would like this one!' I grew up on the east coast of Canada on an old farm carved out of a spruce and fir forest. I had my fill of spruce and fir then and have no desire to add and to the garden here, however pretty some of the unusual ones look - on someone else's property!
Where I grew up (50 years ago this view would have had 3 houses, the fields around the yellow pin, some fields on the north side of the lake, and all the rest dense spruce and fir forest, with a few burned out areas! The interesting vegetation - to me - was the stuff that was NOT spruce or fir.) :
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKen - here are pictures from DH's camera - they certainly look a lot like yours, so you're probably right on the ID. It'll be interesting if the lady replies with a different name....
:-) the personal tour was rather unexpected for me! Both DH and I had, for separate reasons, been talking last week to someone in the office that is, among other issues, responsible for such things. I think the invitation resulted from that contact. I think they were also interested in getting feedback on the accessibility improvements - the lady giving the tour asked me for my opinion several times (I greatly approved, but pointed out another area - the lilac dell - that needs improvement in the path surfacing!) She also commented that I was the first disabled visitor to go through the renovated rock garden. Whatever the reason for the tour, we greatly appreciated and enjoyed it!
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
8 years ago
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., CanadaOriginal Author