Village of Painswick

Oops, sorry about this; I'm not going to write about Stourshead today.  The little town of Painswick will have to come first because it's the end of my week of entries, and I don't want to start but not finish Stourshead Gardens.

While we walked around this old village, several things caught my eye.  First the limestone which here would be golden in the sunlight (not that there was any), second the doors/gates/doorways, and third the flowers, the Lychgate and assorted and sundries which you will see.

As you look at the photos of the doorways and gates, check out the names given the buildings.

Just loved this old door, broken windows above, and that wonderful limestone!

All this limestone and there's one half-timbered building (technically anyway, as you'll see later) in the town.

Dr. Who anyone?

This is the outside of the Lychgate  (which is also half-timbered, I know, but technically it's a gate attached to a building so I'm not going to count it as a building).  On the right is the street, and on the left is the churchyard.  There is a passage from the street through to the churchyard (can you see it is open on both sides?).  Behind the half-timbered part is an attached limestone cottage.

 Another word that I thought I understood but was totally wrong about is "lych".  Since in my experience it was always a compound noun (lych + gate), I thought "lych" possibly a corruption of "latch", I reasoned, referred to a metal mechanism that one would push down and in so doing release a latch that held the gate shut.  Sounds good, right?  Well, here's the real meaning (once again found at www.dictionary.com):   

lychgate

noun

a roofed gate to a churchyard, formerly used as a temporary shelter for the bier during funerals

and from Wikipedia:

The word lych survived into modern English from the Old English or Saxon word for corpse . . . In the Middle Ages when most people were buried in just shrouds rather than coffins, the dead were carried to the lych gate and placed on a bier, where the priest conducted the first part of the funeral service under its temporary shelter.

Fascinating, isn't it?

Portrait of a rose.

View through some trees.

And that's the tour for this week.  Next week I will take you on a whirlwind picture tour of Stourhead Garden.

England - Bath

On our way to Bath, I managed for the first time to get a decent photo through the window of the bus (we must have slowed to a crawl or even stopped for some reason).  Again this seems to me to be both quintessentially England and sheer loveliness.

Note the stone walls.  Much like ours here in the Northeast, they are made without mortar, but the stones that are wedged on the top have a great deal to do with the integrity of the wall.  Once those start to loosen and fall out, the wall itself begins to fall apart.  These walls take a great deal of money to rebuild (as you can imagine!), but they are protected and cannot be taken down without all sorts of rigmarole.

While in Bath, we spent almost all of our time at the Roman Baths.  It was D's choice, and I enjoyed it, too, as we both like history, but next time I want to go see the Assembly Rooms and Jane Austen's home.  

I was amazed at how large this site is, and there is really no way I can give you an accurate idea of that because so much of it is underground now.  There is a model of how the site may have looked in its heyday, and that may help give at least some sense of it.

These photos are quite small in scale compared to the others, but again, if you click on them, you'll be able to see them a little better.  

This photo shows that excavation is still going on.  This man had just paused to check his work before beginning again.

One of the most astounding pieces found so far is this gold head of Minerva.  They do hope to be able to find more of her statue, but it simply may not happen.  It may not even be there any more; looters or the vagaries of nature may have had their way already.

The water is full of minerals as you can see from the color of the stones, and it is also quite hot.  I must share with you the fact that all visitors may try a taste (drinking it was considered of great health benefit), but there was a warning attached not to drink more than a sip.  Let me just say that the waters have great use as a laxative.  I didn't take even a sip!

This is a "photo op"  I just really liked; I never did get around to see what this woman had with her or what she was doing. 

One of the members of our group also visited the Baths and we exchanged cameras so each of us would have a photographic reminder.  The things hanging around our necks are audio tour guides.  Quite handy.

Just another indication of how large this area is.

 And here again is a mallard drake.  I would not have thought they would like being near this water, but it certainly didn't bother this one.

A view of the cold bath into which one dipped after tolerating the hot baths as long as possible.

Our last stop in Bath was at the Sally Lunn Tea Shop.  We didn't have enough time for tea, but we did buy a Sally Lunn cake.  We think it would probably have lived up to its reputation if we had had time for a proper tea complete with all the butter, jams, and clotted cream one could slather on it!

After Bath we headed off to Stourhead Gardens but that will be a treat for tomorrow.  Think calendar-style photographs!

Wisley 2: Glasshouse and Bonsai

Given the size of the Glasshouse at Wisley, you'll be relieved to know I'm only showing you a few of the wonders inside this massive structure (note the people at the right hand side of the GH as a size reference). 

Before I go on about the flowers inside, I must admit that I did not do a very good job of getting the specific plant information.  First, it was frequently difficult to match the label with the correct plant in what is a jungle-like collection of plants within a confined space, and second, while I enjoyed seeing these botanical curiosities, they don't captivate me.

That said, I will show you some of the water lily photographs:

I have no idea which waterlilies were which, but I love them; they are captivating.  No surprise there; they live in water!

I can't decide which I like best in this picture, the water lilies or the bronze chains of flowers dangling from the plant above.  

Another "pretty" with a decent reflection this time.

Some of these I took simply because no one would believe me if I tried to describe flowers like these.

Well, this isn't a flower, but it makes me re-think the term "tree fern".  This should be at home with the Jurassic Rhubarb from yesterday (anyone catch the second and third pictures of Gunnera manicata yesterday? The second was to the right of the Chinese mahogany tree, and the third was to the right in the waterfall photo right after the bird taking a bath.).

Another amazing flower.

Finally, what would a greenhouse be without orchids?

Now on to the bonsai collection.

This photograph explains a modest amount about bonsai, but it doesn't explain the pronunciation of the word bonsai.  To sound as though you know more than a little, it should be pronounced  bone'-zahy .  If you say it "banzai" it has an entirely different meaning.  From www.dictionary.com: 

ban·zai

/bɑnˈzaɪ, ˈbɑn-; Japanese ˈbɑnˈdzɑi/ Show Spelled [bahn-zahy, bahn-; Japanese bahn-dzah-ee] 

interjection

1.(used as a Japanese patriotic cry or joyous shout.)

2.(used as a Japanese battle cry.)

adjective

3.leading to likely or inevitable death; suicidal: a banzai attack by Japanese troops in the last days of World War II.

Pinus sylvestris 'Beuvronensis' 55 years in training 

The number of years does indicate how old the tree is.  It does not tell us how many years the tree has been in training (potted, wired, and pruned).

Ulmus parvifolia 85 years 

This is an elm (ulmus) and the parvifolia indicates it has small leaves (constant pinching back the leaves make them small, but this variety of elm makes succeeding with small leaves easier).

Acer palmatum 'Deshojo'  (forest) 65 years

It's not easy to see in this photograph, but there are several trees in this pot which is why it is a forest.

Larix kaemferi (forest) 40 years

Here it is much easier to see the other larch trees in the pot.

Acer palmatum 80 years

D says this tree has the shape of a "graceful lady".  While this is not a technical "bonsai" term for the style of this maple, I like it a lot.

If you are interested - when we were in the Blenheim gift shop, I saw a book called Latin for Gardeners*.  It was expensive and in hardback which made it heavy so I didn't buy it.  However, when we were back, I kept thinking about it and decided to see if I could get it on-line, second-hand.  I did; it came to day.  It is helpful with great illustrations so if the idea fascinates you as it did me, see if your library can get it.  That way you can look through it before committing any money.

*Harrison, Lorraine.  Latin for Gardeners.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Back to England: Wisley Garden (Royal Horticultural Society)

Today I will show photographs with brief explanations of our visit to Wisley Gardens, one of the several maintained by the Royal Horticultural Society.  In short, this is the place to go to see a vast collection of plants tended to be in as close to tip-top condition as humanly possible.

This is the flower of Gunnera manicata, a huge plant with mammoth leaves.  It grows in boggy areas and reaches a height of 6-10' tall, and 10-15' wide - hence its common name, Giant Rhubarb.  But I prefer the second common name I discovered,  'Jurassic Rhubarb'.  Appropriate, don't you think?

A pink tree (Toona sinensis 'Flamingo' aka Chinese mahogany) admired by a lady in a pink jacket.

One of the many water features throughout the gardens.  Again, notice the variety of foliage colors.

A vista - another thing English gardeners do well is providing on with unexpected delights seen through a sudden opening.

Another in a series of Euphorbia taken in the test gardens.  I missed the label on this one but suspect it was one of the Euphorbia aurea varieties.  I haven't thought much about these plants until this trip, but I promise you, I'll be looking for them in the catalogues this year!

A lovely fountain surrounded by beautiful blooms.

Ah, the wildlife . . . bird taking a bath in the rain.

Do you notice that I really like water?

A charming herb garden, the first of its type I saw on this trip.

Acitinidia pilosula, climbing kiwi, which I think is spectacular, but its farthermost north zone is zone 6 which rules us out.  I think it might be one of those plants that uses all the room it can get and then some as it grows.  Maybe it's a good thing I can't grow it here!

I couldn't decide which side of the bridge was the one for today so I'm showing you both.

More wildlife.  This one very familiar swimming among the water lilies.

And this is a closer view of the upper part of the water fall you saw in the third photo.

Tomorrow I'll share some of the bonsai and the wonders found in the glass house at Wisley.