When Darry was on vacation earlier this month, we visited the Norfolk Botanical Garden.  It is a large place, with miles and miles of paved paths that wind through many gardens.  We spent several hours wandering from section to section admiring the different gardens.

This fountain and water feature was one of the prettiest parts of the garden.  It is also in the middle of the day lily garden which was in full bloom.

This is one of my favorite color palettes for a garden; purple/black, blue/silver and and pink.  That sounds confusing so here is my explanation; purple in flowers and foliage that is also dark enough that it appears black at lower lighting, greens that are on the blue end of that spectrum but that also look a little grey or silver on the new growth and of course, pink flowers.  It is considered a cool color palette and I try to incorporate those colors into my garden.

Day Lily, “Predator”.  Let me start by saying I am not a huge day lily fan.  For me, I like flowers that last more than a day.  However, after wandering through and looking at dozens of them, I may consider a few like this one.

Or maybe this one, “Ruby Spider”

What I really want, this sculpture!  Located in a small grove near the fountain, it was a meditation garden and this piece sits in the middle of the area.

Those leaves are made of glass and I love the way they look as if they are floating when you see it from a distance.

The details on the leaves is amazing; the veins, the colors-so realistic.

It was such a bright and sunny day that I did not take as many photos as I wanted to-the lighting was just too harsh.  But I made an exception for this rugosa rose.  What is so special about this rose?

Those hips, that’s what!!!  If you want to make rose hip jam or tea, you need a rugosa rose for the hips.  They had two varieties with hips like this. “Alba”  was a white, single rose and “Purple Pavement” was a fuschia-purple shade.  It would be wonderful to plant them close to each other and let the canes cross so that you have both colors in one bed, or draped over a fence…

If you like to visit gardens, I highly recommend this one.  The Japanese Garden had a beautiful waterfall with lotus blossoms and I look forward to going back in cooler weather.