-

-
Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Visiting Rosedale Gardens in Gig Harbor, WA

About a month ago, Alison, of  Bonnie Lassie fame, and I visited Rosedale Gardens which we'd both visited before but not for quite some time.  We were greeted by these bronze giraffes towering above the shade plant area. 

 
A nice variety of very healthy looking shade offerings!

Newly emerging foliage of Rhododendron sinogrande is as beautiful as any flower IMHO.  Sinogrande has huge tropical-looking evergreen foliage like a loquat on steroids.

Oh Deer! 
 

I didn't ask but think that it might have something to do with seeing how many flamingos one can find around the nursery.  There were many! 


On the other hand, maybe they outfit you with a rifle and fly you to Florida for a weekend.  When is flamingo season anyway?
 
 
 Good to know!

The larger ones in the picture are over 10 feet tall.  Honey, I warned you about continuing to dump that radioactive waste down the drain! 
 
 
If the everglades aren't really your thing,  you might like something from the lone star state.  Should that be capitalized?  One does not want to mess with Texas!  (A smaller state than Alaska. Just sayin' is all.)
 
 
Nothing screams  desert authenticity quite like a concrete bull skull and river rock.   

Unless, of course,  it's  pink saguaro cacti and a rusty Stegosaurus skeleton. 
 
One of the great things about Rosedale Gardens is that they have lots of space to display large pieces in garden like settings.  There was even an additional sculpture area that we didn't visit because we wanted to visit several places that day.

Love this Buddha face fragment.  (about 3 1/2 feet tall) and think it looks especially nice with the climbing hydrangea foliage!

We really have a thing for glass in our gardens in the PNW.  Aren't these interesting?

Cool  idea of creating a glass plant in a pot with several glass leaves.   Gorgeous!
 
She would look fun in my pond!  Although I'm still thinking the nearly life-sized shark head I saw at Bark and Garden might be even more interesting in that spot.


Placement is perfect here for this large as the real thing Easter Island head.  Did you know that they also have bodies that were buried as a result of erosion?  Look here.

Lots of great pots!  Very clever the way this row of columns is displayed in a line paralleling the natural columns created by the fir trees.


Would it be cruel to keep some goldfish in the large pot with the bronze eagle approaching for a little bit of fishing?


They call Washington state the evergreen state for a reason!

Because Rosedale Gardens is situated over a large space, plants of various kinds are displayed in groups dotted throughout the property.
 

How are sempervivums and the following picture of painted rocks the same? 
 
 



O.K. everybody, all together.  Because they're both called hens and chicks!  That's hens and CHICKS,  Alison!   Seriously, wouldn't it be the bees knees to put these in a rockery surrounded by sempervivum?   Maybe I should go back. 


My niece, Alison, (the first Alison in my life) needs this dragonfly gate!


So, I get the idea of painting a dead tree but this one had leaves trying to grow from its branches.   Is painting tree bark harmful to the tree?    Just curious. I also have a lot of extra paint hanging around.  Hmm.

Did you notice this guy hanging from a branch in the previous image?

Lance Armstrong as a child?
 
 
 Nice sized Magnolia macrophylla, one of my favorite trees.

You never know what you'll run across in the bushes.

What happens in the Pines stays in the pines!  
 
Of course we all want to know if what we've heard is true about what this guy does in the woods but he was a strong silent type and wasn't answering any silly questions. 

Lest you think this place is all about the yard art, let me assure you that they do have great plants as well like this Quercus robur 'Concordia' or Golden English Oak which I'd only seen (and bought) at  Far Reaches Farm previous to this.   It's a great tree that retains it's gold color through the whole growing season and looks absolutely wonderful next to a deep red leaved Acer palmatum!
 
 
So, how was our visit to Rosedale Gardens?   Not Baaad, not baad at all.
 




I'll certainly go Bach again!
 
 


This was delightful!  an actual traffic signal  wired for home or garden use!   You could let garden visitors know what's expected of them.  Slow down there mister, what's your hurry?  Go ahead, smell the lilies.  Stop picking the flowers and leave them there for everyone to enjoy.   Every garden needs one!   
 
I'm sure this is what Ms. Boone was singing about! 
 
O.K. I'll stop already but you should really go and experience all the fun of this place yourself!

33 comments:

  1. Nice size Magnolia Macrophylla...I think mine has grown at least one leaf taller!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems like M. macrphylla grows painfully slowly until it reaches a certain size (maybe 15 feet or so) and then they seem to grow more quickly. Or maybe I just can't see what's going on up there.

      Delete
  2. I love this and I noticed that there were lots of gardeners out there into garden art. That is great! I may have to get a flamingo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or maybe a whole group of them! Not that I'm telling you to get flocked or anything.

      Delete
  3. I love those metal sculptures of animals but the child on the tricycle TERRIFIES me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That was a fun day! And this is a fun post! Love the rocks painted like hens and chicks. Although my alternative term for Semps would have made for an interesting painted rock.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a marvelous idea! At one time Marcia Donahue was putting sculptures like that at the ends of bamboo poles or maybe the poles were part of the sculptures. In any case, they looked quite interesting as the growing tips of bamboo poles in a grove. Maybe you could paint sets of them to come up out of the ground. They'd look like mushrooms at first blush but as garden visitors investigated more closely, surprise! I think you should do that right this minute!

      Delete
  5. Fun post! Alison didn't make any jokes about the Decker's Deck on her post today but made up for it here.

    I meant to go out today and look for my wire flamingos and my 'totems' from another garden era. I remembered to look for boxwoods that were eaten by Oakleaf Hydrangeas and Yarrow that was eaten by the mower but I forgot the totems. Gardens are such a distraction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you liked the post! That Alison is pretty mischevious! To my mind, everything else is a distraction from gardening.

      Delete
  6. The dragonfly gate and painted tree are very cool - and I definitely enjoyed the concrete sculptures. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a flamingo, preferably free (of course). I can always paint it pink. Enjoyed the tour! Thanks for great photos and entertaining comments along the way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes! a flamingo would look wonderful in your garden! Glad you liked the post.

      Delete
  7. The starting point for any new project is to find a landscaping contractor who can produce a design and a set of working drawings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mkay. Currently you will pay between $13.00 - $45.00 for 3.5 ounces of high quality black tea in China. Since this is at least linked to a garden-related site, I'll leave it.

      Delete
  8. This place certainly displays a sense of humor, which goes a long way to atone for going overboard with the garden "ART". Lotsa fun to visit, but I would not be tempted to take up residence.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the Golden Oak...so prety...not sure about the painted trees...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The golden oak is cool and they're so slow growing that even a small garden can accommodate one! I'm not sure about the painted trees yet myself.

      Delete
  10. Fun tour with garden art for everyone including Texans who might wander in far from home.

    Perhaps they keep the rocks for Alison's version behind the counter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was something for just about everyone at that place!

      I bet you're right about that. I'll to ask if they have an adult section next time I go.

      Delete
  11. Hehehe, those sheep are sooo funny. Easter Island's statues are impressive, and more if they have bodies beneath them. Nice place and plants!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you liked the sheep! Glad you liked the place!

      Delete
  12. Painted trees that are dead = okay. But painted live trees just seem a little, well, wrong.

    So what does a tall column like those in your photo sell for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree about painting a live tree being a little wrong.

      Didn't look at the price of them but I like the nice clean lines.

      Delete
  13. Very humorous post, and very unusual garden art! I went on a pretty amazing garden tour last weekend but even they didn't have 10 foot tall flamingos. Love them. Also - the painted tree. Kind of freaky and cool. Good post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, glad you liked the post. This is an establishment whose quirky inventory elicited more than a few chortles from us!

      Delete
  14. Ornamentation seems to be theme this summer amongst a lot of garden blogs. I like those pink flamingos, quite quirky!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirky is a good word for a lot of the items at Rosedale Gardens! Our visit sure made me giggle more than once.

      Delete
  15. "The stars at night, are big and bright, (clap clap clap clap) Deep in the heart of Texas...." I grew up there, it's true. Your post was a riot, so funny. The giant flamingos are a little too apropos in today's post-Fukushima world. If I were going to hunt some, I would just go to Sea World. Lots of nice plants, and I enjoyed your comments on all the garden art. Maybe someday when I am not fighting weeds tooth and nail, I can get around to the finer things of life.... Thanks for the humor along the way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to make you laugh! We all need a chortle or two after a day of weeding, mowing, planting, etc. (Whoever thought we'd enjoy working so hard?)

      Delete
  16. Much great garden art and many great plants. I would just point out that while Alaska has a greater land area, Texas has way more guns. Also, flamingo rental is a great idea for my region, as I hate it when I forget and leave my flamingos out in the snow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be more careful about poking at Texas! Leaving flamingos out in the snow - Is that anything like leaving the cake out in the rain?

      Delete
  17. Really beautiful place to visit; thank you for the tour. I love the dragonfly gate, the golden Q. robur, and all the evergreens. And your wonderful sense of humor.

    Those columns were nice. I want the fountain version that we saw at the Fling Nichols garden. Wasn't that great?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need only mention the words Nichols garden and I begin to salivate. It's a pavlovian response. Loved everything about that garden! If I ever grow up, I'd love to have a garden just like that! Was the Nicholas weeping pillar a Little and Lewis creation by any chance? Sure looked like it might be.

      Delete

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.