Last Tuesday: Denver Botanic Gardens (Part 3)

[mistressofmuses]

(Trying to keep going with the things I planned to.)

Part three of the pictures from the Botanic Gardens last Tuesday. Last Tuesday was better than this week's.


Tiny ducklings are so damn cute.


These were very striking, with the contrast between the upper and lower petals, plus the bright orange pollen!


I remembered these irises from last year. They're so vibrant!

Fourteen more pictures:

We took a break and headed to the Garden's restaurant, "The Hive." Their food is quite good, so it's always nice to get to go there. Mildly spendy, but well worth it for what you get. Their sweet potato fries are the best.


On the path up to the restaurant: mother duck in the middle of her little island, ducklings scattered around the edges. (Though she was not a fan of other ducklings; there was a second cohort of ducklings that were unattended by their parent, and she was pretty vicious about chasing them away.)


A towhee hanging out at one of the tables.


The ducklings came through on a scavenging sweep. They had no qualms about running under our feet.

It started raining a bit, but while it looked like it might last a while, it actually broke up quite quickly.

After lunch, it was on to the iris garden:


Happy Pride from these Persian jewels. :)


Ruffly! These ones smelled very sweet, if I remember.


This was one of my favorites. I love the stripes!


Another that was just a very different color from the rest.

Over by the cuttings garden:


A very striking two-toned lupine!


Ma'am! Attend to your children!! (I'm fairly sure this was the deadbeat neglecting her duckling children, who were frantically swimming around and peeping. Alex was distressed that they were distressed, but she seemed to be heading back in their direction.)

And in the Victorian garden:


I liked the caged succulents!


I love ferns, plus bonus columbines.

Then over to the Shofu-En Japanese garden.


(The informative sign reads: "A Lantern For Peace: This 250-year-old stone lantern was donated in 1964 by Denver's sister city, Takayama, Japan. The Sister Cities program and "friendship gardens" across the United States are symbols of cooperation and cultural exchange.")


And of course, my much-loved koi.


More koi!

Just one more gardens picture post to go.

Comments

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I love the irises. Two of my new ones bloomed this year, one ivory and one vivid yellow.

[spikedluv]

Love the irises so much!

LOL'd at the deadbeat duck.

[olivermoss]

Ducklings!

Caged succulents are a vibe somehow

[umadoshi]

Such glorious irises!!! <3 And oh, I love ducklings.

[boujee_redneck]

I absolutely love the orange-y mauve iris, wow!!!

Re: Wow!

[mistressofmuses]

Thank you! Irises are one of my favorites - my mom has ones in her garden that were her grandfather's; she's made sure to divide and take some with her every time she's moved somewhere new. Hers are a classic blue-purple, but the house I grew up in had a ton of different colors. I'm so glad that yours are blooming!

[mistressofmuses]

Thank you! The irises were beautiful!

I feel like there was a deadbeat duck there last year, too! I'm afraid she just does not enjoy parenthood...

[mistressofmuses]

The ducklings were adorable, as they always are.

I love the caged succulents! But it certainly is a vibe. I feel it suits my aesthetic, but it also feels... interesting. (Why are they being kept in? The vibe of these ornate cages is extremely different than a more utilitarian one would be...)

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have some old ones that are purple below with pale yellow above. Then there are the dark purple, almost black ones that I planted, and the new ones. I've tried adding more to the wagonwheel garden but they don't seem to last long there.

[mistressofmuses]

The irises were beautiful!

And ducklings are just so adorable. And such little soft peeping, too!

[mistressofmuses]

The orange-mauve one was such a unique color!

Re: Wow!

[mistressofmuses]

I do like irises that have different above and below. My absolute favorites from the garden when I was a kid were ones that looked like bronze: the petals were mostly a really rich brownish color, but the inner parts of the lower petals were an extremely intense blue-purple. It really did look like a striking patina on bronze. I've seen a few that have similarities, but never quite that color again!

I do also love the really dark near-black purple ones.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That sounds glorious.

I planted some that are supposed to be purple and orange, but they haven't bloomed yet. I did get a pale yellow and a crayon yellow, though, that was lovely.

Re: Wow!

[mistressofmuses]

I hope the purple and orange ones bloom for you! It's amazing to me what a variety of colors irises have. Even just between "yellow" and "purple" there are so many colors and shades and combinations!

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Sooth. I got a bunch of bagged bulbs from Costco last fall, most of which have at least put up leaves, although only two bloomed -- both yellow, but completely different shades. :D It'll be fun to see what else blooms next spring.

Re: Wow!

[mistressofmuses]

I know irises can take some time to really get established, so I hope more of them do bloom next year! It's fun that you have multiple shades already, though!

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Some places I've gotten leaves but no flowers, or flowers once or twice then nothing. These seem to have plenty of leaves and be happy, though, so I'm hopeful that more will bloom.

Plus of course, hoping that Costco has more bulbs this fall! :D

Re: Wow!

[mistressofmuses]

Irises do seem to just cycle sometimes. I know my mom's had an absolutely stellar year last year, but were very subdued this year. Hopefully yours go through a flower boom in the next year or two!