In Desert Island Gardens, a game started by Noel Kingsbury and Annie Guilfoyle and posted about by danger garden, players choose 5 gardens, 1 book and 1 item to take with them on a desert island. I'm hopelessly provincial so most of my garden choices are local.
1) The sisters' garden in Chapel Hill is the quintessential Southern Garden with dogwoods and lots of azaleas, along with hundreds of tulips and many other flowers. It's locally famous and hundreds of people visit every Easter.
2) Blogger Carolyn Aiken's garden on beautiful Prince Edward Island. It's the ultimate romantic style garden.
3) The Coker Arboretum on the UNC Chapel Hill campus in Chapel Hill. It's a scenic and peaceful oasis in the middle of a beautiful campus. Originally it was a swampy area where the faculty grazed their cattle (I've actually seen pictures in the alumni magazine of this) but the swampy areas have been turned into a stream and the area into a lovely garden with many interesting plants.
4) The NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, set in the piedmont of NC. There are display gardens featuring mountain and coastal plain plants by the older buildings, as well as a medicinal garden with some non-native plants, and more display gardens by the newer buildings. They have a seed distribution program for members (non-members can also buy the seeds for a small price) and it's just a great place for learning about native plants. There are also hilly trails that are great for bird watching and even seeing flying squirrels.
Plymouth Rose-Gentian
1) The sisters' garden in Chapel Hill is the quintessential Southern Garden with dogwoods and lots of azaleas, along with hundreds of tulips and many other flowers. It's locally famous and hundreds of people visit every Easter.
2) Blogger Carolyn Aiken's garden on beautiful Prince Edward Island. It's the ultimate romantic style garden.
3) The Coker Arboretum on the UNC Chapel Hill campus in Chapel Hill. It's a scenic and peaceful oasis in the middle of a beautiful campus. Originally it was a swampy area where the faculty grazed their cattle (I've actually seen pictures in the alumni magazine of this) but the swampy areas have been turned into a stream and the area into a lovely garden with many interesting plants.
4) The NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, set in the piedmont of NC. There are display gardens featuring mountain and coastal plain plants by the older buildings, as well as a medicinal garden with some non-native plants, and more display gardens by the newer buildings. They have a seed distribution program for members (non-members can also buy the seeds for a small price) and it's just a great place for learning about native plants. There are also hilly trails that are great for bird watching and even seeing flying squirrels.
5) My own, because I made it and I love seeing all of the wildlife thriving in it.
OK, in case 5 is against the rules, I'd pick somewhere that isn't really a garden but looks like one on a grand scale: Enlow Fork, Pennsylvania. Large glades full of blue-eyed Mary under an open canopy along a river, with Virginia bluebells, several species of trillium, Mayapple, violets, and wild native geraniums.
Picking one book is difficult. Very difficult. But in the end I would choose A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence, and the item a shovel. If I got off the island I'd want to visit Longwood Gardens because Dirr mentions them often in his Manuel of Woody Landscape Plants.
OK, in case 5 is against the rules, I'd pick somewhere that isn't really a garden but looks like one on a grand scale: Enlow Fork, Pennsylvania. Large glades full of blue-eyed Mary under an open canopy along a river, with Virginia bluebells, several species of trillium, Mayapple, violets, and wild native geraniums.
Picking one book is difficult. Very difficult. But in the end I would choose A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence, and the item a shovel. If I got off the island I'd want to visit Longwood Gardens because Dirr mentions them often in his Manuel of Woody Landscape Plants.
Ah fun! Thanks for playing along, and I got to see some new to me gardens. I must say the green was a nice change from the dreary day we've had here.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I thought it was a fun idea!
DeleteThat's a great list! I'd love to see the NC Botanical Garden, and no doubt the others in Chapel Hill. I've never been to NC so I expect I don't really know what I'm missing. I do know I'd love to shop at Plant Delights in person (and avoid the sky-high cost of shipping plants to California!).
ReplyDeleteI've been to Plant Delights a few times during Open House and really should make a point of going back again. It's only about a half an hour from my house. Very different from Niche Gardens, which sadly doesn't exist anymore. Lots of scree for plants that normally couldn't overwinter here due to our wet winters. An impressive ginger and crinum collection. A big pond with many different Louisiana iris. Even a waterfall.
DeleteOh I like the idea although the choice is tough! Love the first especially - the colours and flowers make me long for spring which is still far away. Do you have Southern live oaks where you are? Wishing you a happy new year and good luck to your husband with the vaccine, he's very brave.
ReplyDeleteWe do have live oaks here, although the majority grow in the coastal plain and along the beach in my state (we're near the center of the state, near where the coastal plain meets the piedmont).
DeleteThank you, happy new year to you too!
This was such a fun idea for a post, that I had to play along too. But reading your post, I cannot believe I lived in NC for almost 20 years and never visited some of these gardens. Will have to make a stop when I visit my momma in April.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you've decided to participate too and am looking forward to seeing which gardens you chose!
DeleteGorgeous photos! All these gardens are stunning. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat Plymouth rose gentian has a beautiful eye
ReplyDeleteYes it does, and the little biennial rose gentian on our farm (a different species) has the same.
DeleteNice list of gardens! I would love to see the Sister's Garden in Chapel Hill.
ReplyDeleteI’d like to see their garden again soon, it is something very special.
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