While we were in the UK we interspersed tours and museum visits with walks and visits to gardens. Today my post highlights two public gardens (one in Glasgow and one in London) next week my garden series will continue with two private gardens.
First there is the
Glasgow Botanic Garden. Most of the flowers below were inside large glass conservatories to maintain ideal warmth and humidity: orchids, cacti and tropical plants. The day we visited the temperatures soared to the high 80's F (outside) so the temperature inside as I was photographing was quite a bit hotter than that; had I been a tropical plant I would have been quite happy but as a human photographer I was a bit warmer than I like to be.
You will notice that most of the visitors are outside on the lawns enjoying the good weather.
There was a beautiful collection of orchids
I think these are pitcher plants:
The last greenhouse I visited had a pond of koi and large statues:
 |
| Nubian Slave |
 |
| Cain |
 |
| King Robert of Sicily |
And now on to London, where we visited
Regent Park; OK not quite a garden but we saw beautiful plants and birds. Another beautiful hot day, so we walked around the lake, which was home to a variety of birds.
 |
| Heron |
 |
| Greylag Goose, I think, but I also found this identified as a Pink Footed Goose |
 |
| Mute Swan |
 |
| Red Crested Pochard |
 |
| Egyptian Goose |
 |
| I know this is the second one but I loved the little pool of water on this one's back. |
 |
| Baby coot (this one was on the far side of the lake, sorry not a great picture). |
 |
| Coot |
 |
| I thought these pigeons looked comical. |
 |
| White Faced Whistling Duck |
 |
| Heron |
 |
| Pair of swans |
 |
| Wood Pigeon |
 |
| ...and a litle bit of statuary to round this one out |
More pictures than words today but I think I'll allow them to speak for themselves this week.
Last Saturday was the Brock House Fair, we had beautiful weather and had an excellent turnout; for volunteers such as myself though the preparation consumed a lot of my free time so I have had no time for art. I promise to get back at the "drawing board" this week.
Thank you for dropping by, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until week .......
so much beauty it takes your breath away. :)
ReplyDeleteYour photos do indeed speak for themselves Gillian. You visited many wonderful places. It's interesting seeing the flowers which grow inside the glass conservatories as many of them grow in the gardens or shade houses (not glasshouses) in our area. Must have been a photographer's delight, if only it hadn't been so warm.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all the varieties of ducks! Such interesting features and colorful! Have a great week Gillian!
ReplyDeleteOh, I absolutely loved these photos, Gillian. What a pleasure to see all these exotics grown under glass!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous shots of the flowers, Gillian! Great colors! You got a wide variety of birds, too. Love the herons!
ReplyDeleteFiquei encantada com a beleza de suas imagens, são perfeita e bem focadas.
ReplyDeleteGostei tanto do seus blog e do seu trabalho que ja estou te seguindo para voltar outras vezes pra ver e ler suas postagens.
Parabéns!
Grande abraço aqui do Brasil!
these are all beautiful. the photo that made me gasp was the one of 3 purple orchids? all facing the same way. just perfect!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots from the garden and park. Beautiful flowers and birds!
ReplyDeleteoh gillian, what a wonderful group of images. so many cute ducks and beautiful blooms!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tour of the gardens. I love the collection of orchids, especially love the purple stripe ones!
ReplyDeleteYour 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.
ReplyDeleteGillian, 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.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing collection of wildlife, and flowers...what a trip.
ReplyDeleteJen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
No words needed for the splendid collection of photos you posted.
ReplyDeleteSome 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. :)
ReplyDeleteOh 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.
ReplyDeleteLove the mystery and beauty of that first shot.
ReplyDeleteI do love Botanical gardens!
Brilliant images, I love the waterfowl, superb. What you said was a White-faced Whistling Duck and not the Chloe Wigeon.
ReplyDeleteThese 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:)
ReplyDeleteHi 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.
ReplyDeleteThank 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.
ReplyDeleteOh how lovely! I could spend weeks looking at all of those beautiful flowers. And the birds are awesome!
ReplyDeleteGillian, all these images are just beautiful !
ReplyDeleteLovely 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!
ReplyDeleteLovely 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!
ReplyDeleteThank Jeremy, I have corrected my error. Yes there were a few hot days at the end of May and we were in Scotland then.
ReplyDeleteSuch 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.
ReplyDeleteAmazingly 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.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for sharing and have a great weekend!
keiko
You visited during our summer lol
ReplyDeleteLovely set of pictures Gillian.
I'm like Bob; I love all those waterfowl from London.
So many wonderful shots. Thanks so much for sharing them with us. I really enjoyed seeing them..
ReplyDeleteHugs~
Such beautiful and unusual flowers!
ReplyDeleteGardens and birds, two of my favorite things. You sure took some amazing pictures, but that first one is awesome!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely breathtaking!!! So beautiful...
ReplyDeletexoxo
BShell
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.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful!!Fantastic!!!kisses.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have been having lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteSuch beauty of nature, it really gives us a pure joy, a blissful moments. Thanks for sharing this one.
ReplyDelete