Friday, October 29, 2010

Longwood Gardens 29 October 2010

Barbara and I woke to cloudy skies and decided to go to Longwood Gardens any way. We got there about 10:00 AM it was still cloudy but the forecast was for partly sunny so we where not going to be disappointed, and we were not. The one reason we went back to Longwood so soon since our last visit was to get a picture of maple walk in full fall color. First we went over to the Pierce Du Pont house and then to the tree house that is handicap accessible, it has a ramp that leads right onto the tree house. Took a few pictures of the view from the tree house and the leaves on the forest floor. We then walked (once again I walked, Barbara rode an electric cart) down by the meadow walk and explored some paths we had not been on before. After that we went to the flower garden walk and since last week all the flowers are gone and all the bulbs are planted. There were just a few workers putting down a mesh to try to keep the deer from digging up the bulbs for a tasty treat. Now it was time to go to maple tree walk and see if we had timed our trip correctly. Sadly we were just a bit to early. The only maples that were in full fall color were the ones at the far end of the one path, bummer. It was getting close to 11:00 am and time for a fountain show in the open air theater. The fountain show was wonderful and at the end the sun came out and we got to see a rainbow in the last of the mist from the fountain show (by the time I ran to the end of the rainbow it and the pot of gold were gone). Next was lunch. After lunch we worked our way around the far side of the hill and up by the eye of the water which was turned off for the winter. I walked across the grass to by the main fountain which over looks maple tree walk and got a picture of the maples from the far end. The only problem was that there is a 4 1/2 foot wall with a hedge in front of it so I had to hold the camera up over my head and take the picture blind, I think I got a good one anyway. Once I got the picture I wanted I walked over to the outdoor rose garden and to my surprise the roses were still in bloom. I asked how they do it but they would not tell me. Maybe I have to feed my roses more through out the year. Next was a walk around the conservatory were they are getting ready for the mum festival next week (we may have to go back). Inside we saw a mum plant that had 1000 blooms (well really 991 but close enough). The man there told me that they have two Japanese ladies that do nothing but all the mums. Over in Japan there are large mum festivals this time of year. One of the mums there had different mums grafted to a mum so they get one plant with different blooms, very cool. We walked around the conservatory and enjoyed all the mums and other flowers. On the way out of the conservatory I took one last picture of the archway made from six mum plants, three on each side of the arch. All in all a very good day.