A magical morning in March at Filoli

I've been lucky to visit many great gardens "at the right time": what, prithee, is the right time, you ask? That time is when everything within the garden appears to be at pitch perfect state of beauty--that and the light is somehow benign and diffused. To top it all off, hardly any one else is there. It's very much like  It is the state described by Andrew Marvell in "The Garden"--possibly my favorite poem ever. Such was the perfect day five and a half years ago when I visited with my partner, Jan, and my son (shown above with the wonderful Japanese Cherry). This garden ought to speak for itself in these pictures...so much so that I don't think there is much I can say until the very end...

 

I hope you enjoyed the stroll! I have often gone back to these images. I've visted Filoli many times--eight or ten at least--almost since its very inception. My sister in law Mary Lou Conant Callas brought me there as a young man a year or two after it opened. I once met the former owners at a Garden Club of America meeting in Hawaii, and had the pleasure of hearing them describe their childhood growing up there.

Much of the perfection of the place is thanks to Lucy Tolmach who was horticultural director at Filoli for as many years as I've been in Denver. She retired in 2012 and I've dreaded to go back, although I'm told it looks good (she claimed she'd trained her successors well)...

The garden's "golden moments" are from when it opens in March until June: it's quieter but still stately in summer and fall--and closes in the winter (I've visited then and it's pretty wonderful even in November or January). Perhaps one day another Lucy will appear who can take it that next step and extend the dazzlement through the calendar year: a tall order you say?

Creating a garden like this with this sort of perfection in the spring is no mean feat. The secret of humanity is that we continue to outdo ourselves (sometimes in ways we shouldn't: guns for instance).. I hope to live to have a magic moment in Filoli in August comparable to what I experienced in March! That is my challenge: let's see if they take it up!

Icelandic treasure trove

The Rock Garden at the Reykjavik Botanic Garden

I was always curious what might actually be persuaded to grow in Iceland, since I've known the climate is essentially alpine: I had a wonderful 18 hour visit this past summer on June 27 en route to Copenhagen at the start of my Chanticleer Scholarship study trip to Greece and Turkey.

And I knew there was a botanic garden, so I made a beeline there. The rock garden held pride of place near the main entrance: there were many fine gardens there--all meticulously weeded, and wonderfully planted to unusual plants as well as the Standard Fare of European botanic gardens. This garden is well worth a visit during the growing season: I'd love to go back in May to see the Adonis (they have a fabulous collection of species) in full bloom as well as early alpines, and later in the summer as well...below is just a smattering of the hundreds of superb alpines in bloom in late June. I wish I could show them all! Most were well labeled and all were superbly grown.

The entrance sign board...

Closer detail of the map...pretty straight forward! Now on to the "Steinhaed"..

Anemone magellanica

Usually considered a variant of the circumboreal A. multifida any more...we've grown a much larger flowered plant under this name. This could be from Colorado!

Aquilegia aff alpina

One of the few whose label I couldn't find--a great colony of blue columbines!

Aquilegia flabellata f. alba

And a superbly situated specimen of this east Asian classic...

Brimeura amethystina

This clump made my poor specimens at home look pretty measly by comparison.

Arenaria purpurascens

There were huge mats of this in several places--best I've seen at any garden.

Delphinium ramosum

Doesn't quite match up to what I know of this species--but spectacular nonetheless...

Dodecatheon integrifolium

I believe this may be the same as P. pulchellum (pauciflorum/radicatum etc.)

Doronicum clusii

One doesn't often see this daisy in American gardens--a lovely one.

Geranium cinereum

A fine form of this classic geranium.

Geranium farreri

I've grown this, but not like THIS!

Iris reichenbachii

Another classic--a lovely form well grown. Look at all the buds--that will bloom all the way through July! For us it's April and early May.

Lewisia pygmaea

Abundant in the high Rockies--these look just as happy in Iceland.

Oxalis enneaphylla

A spectacular specimen of a choice plant rarely seen in the States.

Paederota lutea

I've grown this too...but this made me sick with envy. Check out the next frame too...

Paederota lutea

Yikes!

Potentilla stenophylla

A platn new to me: and a showy one. I've seen a similar plant from Bhutan--so this is likely Himalayan.

Pulsatilla violacea

I would love to have a pasqueflower with this many flowers!

Ranunculus aconitifolius

Part of an enormous planting of this old fashioned perennial one rarely sees nowadays.

Ranunculus traunfelneri

A new one for me: a gorgeous buttercup!

 

Ranunculus sartorianus

Another buttercup I've not heard of hitherto...

Saxifraga taygetea

Does not look like the S. taygetea I've grown for years: I'm curious which is correct! This is more like S. rotundifolia in my experience. I'm so plant focused I forgot to get a release signed by the fellow with the pack in the back who unintentionally photobombed this picture. I suppose he's wandering around the planet, oblivious that his soul was stolen as a backdrop to a misnamed plant.

Veronica schmidtiana

A delightful tuft of this East Asian Veronica...

Paeonia anomala, elder and tulips

There are wonderful vegetable, woodland and perennial gardens as well--but this vignette shall suffice for now: Amazing how everything is in bloom at once--with peonies and tulips making it into midsummer! Iceland is definitely worth the visit! Next time, Akureyri where there is another ambitious botanic garden!