This
view is looking back toward the main entrance to the gardens. The white
in the border on the left is a Crambe in full bloom. There were also delphinium,
foxglove, campanula, and asters blooming all at the same time along that
edge. The rosey glow at the far end are Rhododendron.
A
closer look at the Crambe which was standing about four feet tall.
A
clump of some sort of pink-lavender aster was also in bloom.
The
centerpiece of the lower garden was a duck pond complete with a number
of hungry ducks. captured during a feeding frenzy on this 35 mm photograph.
Little
byways of rocks and plants surrounded the walks and a couple of public
buildings that shared the lower garden.
Jennifer
took this 35 mm photo of me checking out a plant label in the rock garden.
The lower garden is to the right in this image and is separated from this
banked rock garden by a river that was spanned by two foot bridges at either
end of the garden. The left side of this image shows the beginning of a
major hill that rose over a hundred feet to various overlooks, shade gardens,
and an Aviary.
This
view shows a substantial gray leaved succulent that was covered with small
white buds.
A
closer view of the succulent.
Here's
a somewhat blurry view of the river from the bridge on the west end, but
it nicely shows the steep hill extending up to the right behind the path
and rock garden.
Various
primula were blooming merrily in little nooks of the rock garden.
This
was a large flowered daisy of a kind I had not seen before.
And
a sort of hen and chickens succulent that was adorned with orange flowers.
White
daisies on plants with thick gray leaves, low plants covered in small white
flowers, and large orange plumes in one image captures something of the
variety that was growing in the rock garden.
This
view is looking back down the hill from about half way up the path that
wound back and forth across the bank behind the rock garden. The duck pond
is just off the image to the right.
We
were brought up short at one point along the hillside path by a huge shrub
covered in yellow blossems.
A
close up of the yellow flowers on the shrub.
The
sign promises additional wonders just a little further up the hill.
The
final path leading to the Aviary was puncuated at the top by a large mound
of lavender that added its scent to that of the clean sea air at the top
of this hill.
The
first thing we saw was a peacock in full display. Unfortunately it was
on the other side of a chain link fence.
He
dropped his tail as we approached but stayed around to glare at us while
I poked the video lens through one of the fence openings.
Another
particularly bright bird was watching us closely.
From
the top of the hill we had a nice view of a part of the Dunedin harbor
and town.
The
difficult to grow Meconopsis daisies were every where in the open patches
along the upper part of the hillside.
Their
brillant sky blue is like a beacon but they were so plentiful as to seem
ordinary.
Large
hybrid Rhododendron bushes were scattered about the hillside and added
flashes of interesting colors as we wandered back down the hillside by
another route.
Finally
we emerged from forest on the hillside to a view of the east side of the
lower garden. It takes a little stamina to see the upper part of this hillside
garden but once again New Zealand served up a varied and unusual public
garden filled with hundreds of blooming perennials and shrubs.