Just wanted to share some pictures of the containers that piqued my interest. This was my first visit to this beautiful place. Very memorable.
A few containers from The Butchart Gardens
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Beautiful pictures Quyen - thanks for sharing.
Quyen,
Absolutely stunning!
I have only been to Butchart Gardens once, but the memories have stayed fresh in my mind ever since. Just imagine what it must have been like to create such a beautiful place and to live there as it was coming together!
Jeannine
my container gardens SURELY dont look like any of those!!
I saw some handsome specimens when I was there many years ago and in Seattle and the Washington Coast. I saw the largest climbing nasturtium I have ever seen climbing up the side of a house out by the ocean there. The Northwest has beautiful containers all over in the US and Canada. I guess they throw them in and just stand back!
Martha
Oooh! Quyen, those are so lush, healthy, and beautiful!
I wonder what they are using for potting soil!?
tabasco, its the rain they get that makes them so lush.
Martha
LOL I was afraid that was it!
Yes, gardenmart, it's the rain and the low 70's summer weather. Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle...they had hanging baskets on tall posts EVERYWHERE and not a spout for irrigation in sight. My baskets would dry out in 2 days.
They are beautiful containers! We in the Pacific Northwest don't get much rain at all in the summer. (less than 1/8 inch this year in July & the beginning of August). Most of our rain comes between October and June with an arid summer. We have water trucks with hoses that go around and water our public hanging baskets daily. The temperate summer temps do help, though. We've had a few weeks of 80 - high 90 degree days but mid 70's is more normal.
The lush baskets in the pictures are obtained by crowding a LOT of plants into the pots. I saw a demonstration on a Canadian gardening show of how they put their pots together. Also, I've found that Home Depot's Super Soil that has time released fertilizer in it works really well. I pot in that, add osmocote, water daily, and alternate weekly liquid feedings between fish fertilizer and Miracle Grow. The municipal pots get watered with a dilute soultion of a water soluble (Miracle Gro, Peter's, etc.) fertilizer daily but I'm too lazy for that.
My neighbor has a water purifier that filters all of the water coming from the main to her house. Therefore, her plants get water that doesn't have chlorine in it & the plants respond very nicely to that. I wonder if Buchart has its own well? Also, Buchart can grow their containers in greenhouse conditions until they reach their peak and then schlep them into place & replace anything that doesn't look perfect.
"Buchart can grow their containers in greenhouse conditions until they reach their peak and then schlep them into place & replace anything that doesn't look perfect."
You got that right, Herpst. If I had the land, the money, and the man power that they have, my garden would look postcard perfect, too.
I noticed that they used very common plants and flowers and planted them en masse, especially in the Sunken Garden. Was a bit disappointed about that. I guess I was hoping to find an arboretum, not just a botanical garden.
I've found (not from personal experience. RATS) that the best garden accessory is a large staff of able-bodied young, energetic folk to do those mundane tasks like mowing, hedge trimming & moving heavy pots inside for the winter.
Actually, while I love visiting those beautiful gardens, it's also wonderful to visit the one - person kind of garden where things aren't always perfect. It makes me feel better about my own weekend warrior, one man jungle.