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Sunday, October 05, 2008

Weekend Snapshot: Number 57

Bill and I went to the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill on Saturday. Although I've posted about that garden several times, I thought I'd post some shots from this visit.
It was interesting to me to compare what was going on in the garden five weeks after my last visit. This time the seed heads were the stars for me. I love seed heads and the great thing about a conservation garden is they let much of the garden follow it's natural processes.
It was also fun to go there on a weekend at my leisure as opposed to after a doctor's appointment. Since it's across the highway from the UNC hospital road, I usually go there following an oncology follow up visit.
The advantage to going there after a doctor's appointment is on weekdays there are almost no people in the garden. The disadvantage is that I'm rushed as I need to get back to work.I get to see things on a weekend that I miss when I'm rushing through. I can't believe I missed the great blue heron in the lily pond before.I'm so used to photographing living ones at Shelley Lake that when I spotted them out of the corner of my eye, I thought they were real at first.The American Beauty Berry (callicarpa americana) spreads out behind the rows of lily ponds and is so beautiful with the mature fruit.
The wild scarlet basil below is taking off in the wild area of the garden. I didn't believe it was basil at first until I looked it up online. Apparently wild basil is in the mint family and doesn't look anything like the domesticate basil I plant.
This has gotten longer than I intended so I'll leave you with hearts-a-burstin' (euonymus americanus) which is definitely a star among fall plants in fruit.
To find other weekend snapshots you can go to the home of WS where participants post on Monday or you can browse for early birds on technorati .

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are some pretty amazing sites! Love the first shot!~

juliana said...

looks like you had a perfect day for a leisurely visit of the garden.
lovely shots... the grasses look gorgeous.

Photo Cache said...

Those are pretty amazing shots especially the berry image. I love that. I have never seen one around these parts.

SandyCarlson said...

Carver,
Thanks for stopping by today and the other day. I am sorry I am slow in responding. Crazy busy at work.

These are wonderful photos. Your corner of the world owns a piece of my heart. Thanks for the trip to the gardens.

SabineM said...

I wish I could spend some weekends hanging out with you! Lovely shots, Carver!

Dr.John said...

Great pictures as usual. You are so lucky to live near such a place.

Napaboaniya.Elaine Ling said...

Carver, it's a first time I'm seeing hearts-a-burstin and it's real beautiful :)

eastcoastlife said...

Hearts a bursting and the American berry! What lovely plants! I don't get to see them in Singapore.

jmb said...

Great photos Carver. Aren't those berries amazing.

Juliana RW said...

looks like fun trip

Please drop at my WS post also : in HERE Thanks

Kero said...

I guess we both ahd a sate with nature over the week end hihi. I really like the last shot. my first time to see such fruit/flower. Take care, Carver. Till next weekend!

escape said...

anyhting that goes with reen becoes beautiful.

Lisa said...

Great photos - those gardens look lovely. The berry image is beautiful with such radiant colour. Enjoy your week.

Anonymous said...

nice photoes, love the berries.:)

Anonymous said...

these are great shots. the purple color of those berries is amazing.

Anonymous said...

The berries just looks so wonderful!

my weekend snapshots are posted here and here. Hope you can drop by. Have a great week ahead.

tanabata said...

Beautiful blue sky, and I love those little purple berries.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty and i like gardens...

Anonymous said...

Those beautiful berries remind me of a computer game I played non-stop when I was in high school. :)

stan said...

love those wispy shots! esp thoe against the blue sky!

Anonymous said...

wow ... wonderful shots. i miss visiting botanical gardens.

maiylah said...

beautiful shots ... hearts-a-burstin' (euonymus americanus), that's something different; i don't think we have that here.

Unknown said...

that sure is a nice place to be with the real world. i guess it comes to a point that we all would prefer going to serene and natural places to relax and get rejuvenated. i love to spend my weekends on places like this now. before when i was younger, i'd hang out pretty much in malls or in metro walking around doing window shopping! now is very much different! comes with age, i guess! hahaha!

Anonymous said...

very interesting that last photo!

Anonymous said...

seems like u had a perfect day as well. going to botanical gardens help relieve stress and relaxes our mind from our busy life. great weekend carver.

dixymiss said...

Beautiful botanical shots. The vibrant purple of the "American Beauty berry" is stunning!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful place to go to! The berries are so vibrant in its color and that red flower is wonderful!

Dee said...

Nice shots, Carver!

Anonymous said...

Looks like a very nice garden. I love all the flowers. Thanks for the visit.

Theresa said...

fun shots, I like the ones with the purple foilage the best.

It is nice to have the garden follow its own path, so much more natural looking-as can be seen in your shots.

Sounds like you had a good weekend-good for you!

Dora said...

I like the pics of American Beauty Berry & hearts-a-burstin'! So pretty.

Sienna said...

I am laughing over you reading your camera book to see stuff to do, I still haven't read mine, but I will tonight.

The hearts bursting flowers are the most unusual flowers I have ever seen!

Love the color of the flowers, so rich. What a beautiful place Carolina is. Didn't James Taylor write a song about Carolina.

Right on about Pete Seeger, I am so glad he stood up for himself. Sometimes it's the right thing to tell folk, in a very polite way, just to buggar off. :)

Great talent.

Pam

sweetytots said...

beautiful shots, i like the blueberries, they looks purple LOL!
thanks for dropping by!
sweet..pretty..naughty
Memory Filled
Sweety tots

Carver said...

Thanks so much to everyone for visiting. To answer the question about James Taylor he did write a song called Carolina In My Mind. He grew up in Chapel Hill, NC where the garden in this post is located which is fairly close to the neighboring city where I live.

Rambling Woods said...

That is a beautiful garden. It might help relive some of the stress that going to those appointments builds up. I should find a place to walk after my appointments..something that is not my yard..Hmmm..

AscenderRisesAbove said...

wow that purple flower is something else. i have never seen anything like that before!

Sienna said...

Incredible!

He may have rambled around that park as a boy, composing little songs in his head....he is just one of my all time favorites, sweet baby James!

atto aryo said...

wild flowers are great!