ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
The Pacific Northwest has, it seems, zillions of slugs. Their mighty jaws chew through flower gardens like Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo. They are dark brown or black—and they were introduced from the outside, interlopers (like the gray squirrels that have overtaken the Douglas squirrels' domain here), the European red and black slugs. Our native species is the banana slug,... Continue Reading →
Along the rocky beach of Akaroa's French Bay, the low tide exposes all sorts of interesting things. Among them are seashells, including turrets that curiously seem to accumulate in one small area. The tide pools reveal not only various forms of sea life, including small crabs, mollusks and sea cucumbers, but marine algae, including this most unusual-looking brown... Continue Reading →
For the over thirty years I've lived in the Seattle area, I've never visited one of the great rhododendron gardens of the world. Weyerhauser's Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden showcases an amazing variety of not only rhododendrons and azaleas but also other plants that thrive in our Northwest climate. By no means is it a manicured garden like Butchart; in... Continue Reading →
Bonsai has always been a beautiful and mysterious art form to me. For over a thousand years, artists have practiced bonsai (penjing in Chinese; bunjae in Korean), the formidable feat of shaping source material into miniature trees through skill, patience and imagination. The Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection has a permanent exhibit, which is free-of-charge. I was mesmerized by specimen after astonishing specimen.... Continue Reading →
This surreal subject is a bonsai plant, an elephant bush (Portulacaria afra) that is currently on display at the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection in Federal Way, Washington. The fascination with bonsai is as much with their evolving shape as with their trunks, which this specimen clearly demonstrates.
I look forward to Spring because, of all the seasons, it symbolizes growth and regeneration.
No, we're still enjoying Spring. But, the Bellevue Botanical Garden has these nice Japanese maples with reddish foliage: a laceleaf (Acer palmatum 'Garnet', above) and tree (Acer palmatum 'Burgundy Lace', below).
Last weekend was likely the best for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It was warm and sunny and the flowers were reportedly in full bloom. But weekends invite the most crowds. Though we hadn't gone in years, with the remainder of the week forecast to be rainy, we decided to skip one of America's great... Continue Reading →
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne is one of the finest in the world, an easy walk across the Princes Bridge from Federation Square. This being nearly the third week into autumn, most all the flower blossoms were spent. Still, there was much to admire here. As you would imagine, there were many native trees of Australia on... Continue Reading →
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