these are all beautiful. the photo that made me gasp was the one of 3 purple orchids? all facing the same way. just perfect!
Your photos of the flowers are beautiful - I recognized only one of them - unfortunately! - the Strelitzia which I have growing in my garden. A great variety of birds also and so good to see them all close in a public park.
Gillian, What a lovely post. The gardens are a beautiful place to visit and I loved all the orchids. The lady slippers are one of my favorites. And the birds are wonderful, very cool to see new species of birds from another country. I really enjoyed your photos.
Some poses of the statues you photographed are reminiscent of “The Thinker” by Rodin. So much artistry and so many lovely gardens to photograph! The picture of buds at the top look like hungry baby bird beaks. :)
Oh what a colourful collection of orchid.. such beautiful flowers, one and all. And I love the birds. You found some great subjects. Thanks for that.
Brilliant images, I love the waterfowl, superb. What you said was a White-faced Whistling Duck and not the Chloe Wigeon.
These are exquisite!! The close ups on that one cactus and tropicals are wonderful. Love these plants. And the macros on your orchids are great. I smiled when you wrote about the humidity/heat. I also have the same issues. They look great on the pictures but the experience of shooting these wonderful plants comes at the cost of heat exposure sometimes:) And your birds are wonderful....haven't seen half of them. Thanks for sharing:)
Hi Gillian. The garden and bird photos are lovely. I especially enjoyed the orchid shots and the birds that we don't see here in B.C. The "thinking" statues were also beautiful.
Thank you for taking us along on a tour of these two UK gardens. Such lovely places to visit! Your photographs belong in brochures promoting these gardens. Beautiful waterfowl captures and stunning orchid shots! It looks like you had a wonderful time viewing such beauty.
Oh how lovely! I could spend weeks looking at all of those beautiful flowers. And the birds are awesome!
Lovely pics from your trip, Gillian. 80 degrees in Glasgow - that's unheard of! Yes, that goose is definitely a Greylag, and the bird you have labelled a Mourning Dove is in fact a Wood Pigeon!
Thank Jeremy, I have corrected my error. Yes there were a few hot days at the end of May and we were in Scotland then.
Such a variety of exotic flowers. I like how you grouped them. Statuary for contrast, and birds that regret not being able to stand upon the statues heads, perhaps. Lovely mix. Thanks for the tour.
Amazingly beautiful series of gorgeous flowers and lovely birds!! Nature which designs and creates them is genius, isn't it!! I am interested in a coiling bud which reminds me of edible mountain herb.
Gardens and birds, two of my favorite things. You sure took some amazing pictures, but that first one is awesome!
Sorry to have been so busy and missed your earlier post or posts since you've been back from your trip. I hope you had a wonderful time! What a variety of waterfowl you saw. I enjoyed seeing the Pink Footed goose and the White Faced Whistling Duck.
Such beauty of nature, it really gives us a pure joy, a blissful moments. Thanks for sharing this one.
We spent last weekend in south end of the Okanagan Valley, in south central British Columbia (many just refer to the valley as the "OK"). We went to the OK to attend a wine dinner at the Orofino Winery (in nearby Similkameen Valley) and to visit friends and a few wineries.
This post has three parts: first the dinner, followed by some flora and then fauna (aka critters) from the Similkameen and Okanagan Valleys.
As I mentioned in the introduction the dinner was at Orofino Winery near Caston in the Similkameen Valley. The Winery partnered again this year with Joy Road Caterers to offer a 1.6 mile dinner; almost all the ingredients were sourced from within 1.6 miles of the winery. We arrived for the dinner (on a shuttle bus), and were greeted by our hosts, John and Virginia, and offered a glass of one of their newest wine offerings Moscato Frizzante.
The table were setup on the patio right beside the winery and John had set up a windbreak with grape pallets and wine barrels to shelter us from any late evening breeze. There were blue skies, beautiful summer weather and wonderful aromas from the outdoor kitchen set up for the event.
Time to find our places and sit down for the dinner. In our places were menus, the tables were decorated with local flowers and the view was of the sun on the hillside.
Here are a couple of reflections for you: the first is the hills reflected in one of the winery windows and the second the patio setting for the dinner (this one is a bit of a stretch I admit).
And here are the critters I promised. This one is looking for the rest of the flock, seems that the blog lady separated it from the rest.
Two pigmy goats, very cute and quite anxious to have their heads scratched, which is why the next couple of pictures are a bit too close up. These guys are fully grown but only about 18 inches tall. You will no doubt notice the rectangular pupils, a trait shared with sheep, and cows I think.
After much scratching they finally settled down for a portrait shot, a little later the brown one settled his chin on the white one and both dozed off.
A few birds collected at a feeder in the early morning much to the delight of our friends' cat, Zee.
So when I say an OK weekend I mean a weekend filled with friends, good food and wine, beautiful weather and interesting critters to watch.
Something different this week. I finished this painting, intended for a card, it is a watercolour called "Age old question?":
Labels: chickens, dove, goldfinches, grapes, house finch, Okanagan Wineries, Orofino Winery, pigmy goats, pine siskin, Similkimeen Valley, sparrow, Teddy bear painting, Water colour painting, wine, Wine and Food dinner
So many wonderful photos. All that food looks so yummy. And you know I am always impressed by your paintings. This one is so cute. I just adore it..
Once again a very interesting post. It's a great idea to have all the ingredients for the dinner sourced from so close. Some of those flavor combinations sound very interesting - I think I should do a little experimenting in my kitchen! The glimpses of the landscape were beautiful! I knew the OK many years ago.
My mouth is watering over all the food and treats. Lovely capture of everything you had and the critters too!
What a charmed weekend! Ooooh I love the wineries. We have one near the Tucson area and it's always a lot of fun. The appetizers look delish! What a nice selection of foods. I have to be careful drinking the wine.....especially the reds:)
The food all looks so delicious and also great shots of the animals and flowers. Sounds like a good weekend.
I really enjoyed the reflection shots, and most especially the wonderful patterns in the wine glasses. Your cloud shot.. don't laugh.. maybe a dinosaur with umbrella? Your watercolour is adorable!
What a special experience to eat outside and enjoy the food as well as the scenery. I love your representation of the do you love me/ love me not - especially with the petals on the sweet bear's knee.
These are such wonderful photos, Gillian. That winery dinner sounds and looks amazing. I'll bet it was just delicious.. your photos had me drooling. Yum!
Your painting is so cute. I didn't count but I'll bet you made sure there were an odd number of petals so that it would certainly result in "Loves me."
In Nara Park, there are about 1100 deer. They also have the rectangular pupils, but not so obvious like pygmy goats.
You captured some real beauty in these images....great job! You've shared every aspects of life in your photo. Superb!
It looks like you must have had a fine time in the Okanagan Gillian. We lived there for 9 years and it was a life filled with lovely people and memorable outdoor experiences. I enjoyed the trip back!
Gillian, this sounds like a wonderful evening, A dinner, wine and a beautiful place to enjoy it all. Your photos are wonderful. I loved the birds too. Did you enjoy the wine, which was your favorite?
Sounds like a lovely evening at the winery. Hubs used to make wine, so we visit them as often as we can. We plan to do the wine trail into Indiana when it cools off. Love the birds and those goats eyes are amazing.
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