The
next morning dawned cloudy as can be seen from these pictures, and cold
as can be inferred from the couple of images where one of us is seen bundled
up. It was cold enough that our first stop was at a shop where we could
purchase some New Zealand wool sweaters, caps, and gloves. This seemed
a little foolish at the time, but served us well on several of the south
island "summer" days that followed.
Downtown Christchurch is famous for its Cathedral Square which at this time was still being frequented by the "Wizard of Christchurch". This is one of Jennifer's photographs.
Another 35 mm shot shows the view looking into downtown Christchurch along a brick paved street that is reserved mostly for pedestrians.
Looking
back the other way along this street is an arch, and only a block or so
beyond that is the river and the public park and gardens that is the subject
of this tour. Sorry, but I don't recall the name of the arch. The gray
sky that is evident in this shot somewhat reduced the quality of the video
that we were able to shoot.
The
hybrid Rhododendrons growing along the Avon river were very healthy as
can be seen from this 35 mm photo.
The
river is clean and clear and flows through the edge of the park nearest
the city. It's banks are grass right down to the water's edge and scattered
here and there are large hybrid Rhododendrens, some of them pruned into
neat 30 tall trees with rounded tops. The lushness you see here in this
35 mm photo was typical of all of the open grassy areas of the garden.
Although
it was December 2(the equivalent to our June 2) the weather was no
more than forty degrees Fahrenheit with a brisk wind blowing. At this point
we are both wearing wool sweaters and caps to further insulate the light
jackets we had packed. This is my wife Jennifer bundled up and standing
in front of a bed of roses bordered by Nepeta faassenii.
A
branch off the path leads into a winding path through an extensive rock
garden that would take a full day to explore fully. The planting to the
right in this view is mainly flowering plants with a few interesting shrubs
and to the left it is mainly dwarf conifers mixed with heaths and heathers.
A
closer view of the heath and heather garden showing the multicolor mix
of dwarf conifers and other shrubby plants. Very inviting. A couple of
plant labels can be seen.
A
branch off the path leads into a smaller winding path that makes a short
loop through the rock garden. In the lower left-cent of this image you
can see two more of the small metal plant markers that identified many
of the plants in the garden. Jennifer is obviously running the camera at
this point.
Most
of the rock garden area was backed by a hill and dense trees, but occasionally
an opening appeared where one could see distant Rhodedendron flowers on
large hybrid shrubs, some of which were pruned into quite large trees.
Another
cool (cold actually) inviting side path in the rock garden.
There
were also lush green lawns scattered throughout and bordered by interesting
plantings and large trees. Everything was in bud and it looked as though
the entire garden would be awash with color in a couple of weeks.
A
lily pond absolutely covered with waterlilies. Only this one patch of open
water remained on a lake that must have covered at least half an acre.
Jennifer
trying to get an interesting closeup photograph of a very old tree. The
bare branches stretched up a hundred feet to a leafy canopy at the very
top.
To
my way of thinking, the real glory of the garden is this thirty foot deep
herbaceous border that must stretch a hundred yards without a bare or unhealthy
spot anywere. The plants were healthier than any I've ever seen and obviously
enjoying this cool climate. There were several bud covered Phlox plants
(bushes?) four feet tall and nearly as wide with thirty or more thick stems
and not a single yellow leaf. Again we were a few weeks too early as there
were buds everywhere but relatively few flowers.
This
is the same border looking to the right towards the park entrance another
hundred yards beyond the trees.
We would have enjoyed this day more if the weather had been more cooperative and if we had come a few weeks later in the season, but in terms of artfully arranged plantings and walks filled with a variety of healthy herbaceous flowering plants, I think this is the best garden I've seen anywhere. Our next overnight stop was to be Dunedin where we found another wonderful garden, but that's another story.