iSpy #95

 Each week, Lysha puts up a photographic challenge with prompts for us to look out for, then we share on Lysha's Saturday (my Sunday). 

Have a look...  remember it is SPRING here in NZ.

This week the prompts were: Earth, Near, Starts with X, Garden Object, Your choice.

Earth: bulbs must be so strong to poke up through compacted earth in the spring.

Near:  This week we were on a two-day garden tour, and as part of it we visited nature's garden at Aratiatia (pronouced Ar-a  tee-a  tee-a) for the water release.  At the top is a dam that they let the water through three times a day; here is a before and after.  This is as NEAR as I ever want to be when the surge happens!    In the empty photo you can see the black on the rocks which is where the water level will be.  Such amazing power from mother nature.

(Sorry, I don't know how to get images sidebyside, can anyone help with that?)

Starts with an X:  here it also ends with an X.  In one of the gardens we stopped to have lunch in (L'Arte).

Garden Object:  In one of the gardens came this rampaging wild pig made from copper.

Your choice:  has to be this fantastical garden where we had lunch.  The young lady in black is the owner of the garden and cafe; she said the seats are all moulded to her bottom!  This 'room' has chairs, tables, a window and even a fireplace.  Don't you love the sofa and lamp?

I am putting up a separate blog entry for the separate garden photos.

Check out what others have done with the prompts, here: ispy-95/

Garden Tour: Garden two

 Garden two was quite different to the first garden but not very far away in the same valley.  It was small but the lady artist who owned it had made a terraced garden by and around the house, with a bog garden below.  

The bog garden below the house.

Here you can see the deciduous azalea just coming out on the right (apricot colour) and a lovely swathe of yellow iris  on the bank.  You can see how steep the land is.

A lovely mix of different leaf textures

Camellia

Beehives of the far side of the creek

That's it.  A lovely spot, a garden still in the making - apparently it was a mess when they bought it.  Garden three next instalment.

Garden tour: garden one

 This week we went on a two-day garden bus tour.  One of the ladies in our village used to be a travel agent and does a wonderful job of organising trips.

We visited four gardens the first day, two falls and a garden the second day.

The first garden.  My favourite.  Relaxed in style and just inviting a wander, with different views around each corner.  A wonderful mix of formal and informal, lots of vignettes, and incorporated the wider environment so beautifully.

The garden is out the back of Taumarunui in the wilds of the king country.  We had a severe unseasonal spring frost last week which had burnt some tender foliage and unfortunately killed some magnolias.  While the garden was amazing in spring I think it will be absolutely wonderful in summer.  The two guys who live here have done a wonderful job; they run it as a B&B.

Up the driveway with beautiful Aberdeen Angus cattle

the garden by the house where we were served morning tea.  Notice the hosta just poking through.

A bronze statue of two children playing with a donkey

A little surprise in the underplanting

The same fountain from different entrances to the garden room. A couple of the 'leaves' had frogs on.

Hidden away is the tennis court in the background; this is the croquet lawn.

Modelled on the lips of a real man and a woman but in giant size.

The rill, built with a haha that drops away to a valley with hills on the other side - what a view!

Finishing at the vegetable garden with giant pottery pumpkins

A superb garden, and remember it is still mid-spring, so imagine what it will be like in summer.  

Then back on the bus.  Another instalment later sometime.

iSpy #94

 Each week, Lysha puts up a photographic challenge with prompts for us to look out for, then we share on Lysha's Saturday (my Sunday). Have a look...

This week the prompts were:  Favourite, Workspace quarterly, Logo, Foliage, Your favourite.

Favourite: my favourite mug, a WIlliam Morris design given to me for my birthday.

Workspace quarterly:  in the midst of creating ... stencils, inks, papers, glue, scissors etc.  I am not tidy when I work - I have it all out, sampling things and then have a cleanup when it's over.

Logo:  I use this bag to tote my hand quilting project around in.  It's really sturdy and has a lovely bright design with the logo in the corner.  The bag was a giveaway from our local New World supermarket a few years ago.

Foliage:  Just bursting into leaf, such a lovely shade of lime green when its fresh.  I love blue and green together.

Your favourite:  You saw my pink-white-yellow tulips earlier, here are the luscious dark grape coloured ones.

Go over and have a look at the other's photos, here:  ispy-94