Round 4, the last of New Zealand

     Here are the last photos of New Zealand.  The first is of a Kauri Tree, Kauri australis, once the dominant tree in the north island, used for lumber.  This giant shown is over 14 feet wide and 169 feet tall.
     Photo 4 shows the Dragon Tree, Draceana draco.
     Photo 5 shows the Tree Aloe, Aloe barberae.
     The last photos show the Feijoa plant, Acca sellowiana.

And then it was 31 below

Note: I will be touring the Virgin Islands and the Galapagos Islands, so there will not be a new post for several weeks.  Enough of this winter!

     Fourteen below was bad enough.  Then six inches of snow added to the insulation blanket for the shrubs in my Japanese garden.  It was needed to survive the rather brutal 31 below zero (36 below Celsius). 
     The little mounds next to the picture window are made of snow covering my new boxwood plantings last fall.

What 14 below looks like

     When I took these photos this morning, it was 14 below zero Fahrenheit (minus 26 Celsius), but that didn't interfere with the beauty of my Japanese garden out of my new 8-foot-wide picture window.  The first photo shows the view from as far away as the kitchen, giving an idea of the great scenes I see.  The only improvement would be of a few mosses popping through.

New Zealand--Round Three

     Here are some more interesting plants from New Zealand.  The first two photos show Cordyline australis, or the Cabbage Tree.
     The third photo is of a nice combination of boxwoods and roses in the city of Omarau.
     Moss can be a very tough plant, as evidenced by Hedwigia ciliata growing in the hot sun on an old piece of road equipment in photos four and five.
     The last two photos show a very common tree there, but a very vibrant one with yellow leaves.  One town loved them so much they matched the color with some low-growing evergreens.

   
  

New Zealand--Round Two

     Here are a few more interesting samples of what New Zealand has to offer the plant lover.  The first three photos were taken in Fiordland National Park on the south island.  It is a place where the Red Beech tree thrives.  Its scientific name is Nothofagus fusca, and it grows up to 140 feet tall.  It loves wet conditions, which is also conducive to lovely moss growth.
     I saw the first stumpery of my life in the town of Invercargill, in the very south of New Zealand.  It is amazing what can be done with a bunch of dead twigs and logs.
     The last photo shows some impressive azaleas in the public garden of the small town of Omaru.

A brief interlude

     I am back from my trip to New Zealand, one of the prettiest countries I have been to.  And in two days I travel to Ethiopia for another adventure.  So, again, I will not do a post for a while, until around Christmas.
     The first two photos were taken in Christchurch Botanic Garden.  If someone knows the name of the plant, please let me know.
     The third photo was taken in Queenstown Gardens.  They certainly have some beautiful azaleas there, in bloom as it was late spring.
     The fourth photo shows a common shrub with yellow flowers, appearing alongside roads in the South Island.  Again, if anyone knows its name, I would appreciate knowing it.
     Photo five shows some of the incredible moss found in New Zealand.
     Photo six shows one of the amazing number of ferns I saw.
     The last two photos shows the beautiful red lichens I saw in a few places, along with some very happy mosses attached, in full sun.

Top-ranked Japanese gardens

Note: I will be visiting New Zealand for several weeks, so there will not be a new post until December.

   In early October I visited Portland Japanese Garden, the top-ranked Japanese garden in North America.  I then went to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where I visited Nitobe Memorial Garden, the fourth-ranked Japanese garden.  I actually preferred Nitobe, mainly because I found their moss gardens to be the best in North America (next to my own, of course).
   The first six photos were from Portland Japanese Garden.  The last four were from Nitobe.  What appears to be grass in Nitobe is largely moss.