One of the coolest works of art made from recycled materials I have ever seen. Loved everything about this.
From the inside!
Back side.
Perhaps a shaman?
Wish the lighting was not so bright here.
The bench on the inside.
About 100 yards away was a very nice screened in butterfly house. This red Admiral posed for my littler G11 camera inside. They were only three native species that I saw in the house; Monarch, Gulf Fritillaries and Red Admirals.
The fountain in the Pergola Garden created in the early 1900s, it is made of coquina. The steps lead down into the pond. Shame I did not have time to wait for better lighting here. Nice place to sit at the waters edge and enjoy the dragonflies along the edges and herons and egrets over the water in the trees.
Some of the details of the pergola. This is for you Dave!
We walked down this shaded pathway only to find not one but two of these double benches facing each other with an built in arbor over each. The other one was prettier but the light was too bright.
A very cool arch in the 150 foot rose arbor in the camellia garden. No roses on it. Below shows some of the detail of the concrete rose arbor.
Hibiscus over 6 foot tall. We missed the real flower show in the spring when all the azaleas and camellias were in bloom. Can you imagine the amount of networking it took 90 years ago to amass 500 cultivars of camellias, oops I left off a 0 that was 5000 camellias.
Here is a year round flower show IMO. This is Live Oak leaves covered in Spanish Moss.
Here is Resurrection Fern, Polypodium polypodioides on a Live Oak limb. For those of you not familiar with Resurrection Fern it is common in our southeastern US swamps, when it is real dry it'll curl up and look very dead. Give it some rain and it come right back to life as in these photos. A fitting plant for the end of this post as Airlie Gardens has been resurrected in recent years and is now open to the public as well.
Perhaps a shaman?
Wish the lighting was not so bright here.
The bench on the inside.
Very cool bottle art! Oh and that pergola looks awesome too!
ReplyDeleteRandy, what a beautiful piece of work and lovely gardens with such charm. Love that fountain, and can only imagine the light streaming through the sculpture.
ReplyDeleteWent there earlier this year when it was filled with tulips, isn't that place cool? The bottle sculpture was my favourite, I was inspired to put it in a post as well :D There was so much to see in it.
ReplyDeleteOh, how pretty! The bottle art and everything on your pictures has a character. I hear what you say about the bright light, but the pictures are good, Randy!
ReplyDeleteLove the garden tour! Carla
ReplyDeleteAirlie is so wonderful! I was last there in February two years ago while doing research for the garden tour itinerary that I wrote for visitnc. I didn't get to see all the flowers in bloom or the lovely sun impact on the Bottle Chapel.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you -- coolest recycled art project ever!
ReplyDeleteLove the bottle chapel, I'd say a prayer there.
ReplyDeleteIt is so very beautiful. I like it that the light was bright on the bottles. Shows the colors very nicely indeed.
ReplyDeleteWow! A beautiful place with subtle touches (except for the bottle chapel!). It took a lot of thought and planning, I believe.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when I saw your first photo, I thought, "Oh, Good! Randy's posted photos of the mosaic garden people!" Will you be? :-)
Wilmington area is where I was born and raised, but you know I've never visited Airlie Gardens. It is supposed to be so beautiful in the Spring when all the Azaleas and spring flowers are in bloom. A big draw for tourist during Azalea Festival time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fancy place! I love that butterfly made of recycled materials.
ReplyDeleteThat is beautiful artwork. I'll have to visit there sometime.
ReplyDeleteI hope one or the other or both of us get rain this go round!
All we're getting out of our garden currently is Genovese Basil and cherry tomatoes. The rest of the tomatoes are staying stubbornly green.
Amazing bottle art! Someone had to drink a lot of vodka. ;0
ReplyDeleteMy son says this reminds him of lite brights!
ReplyDeleteI love that--it's amazing what can be done with bottles and mosaics.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my website!
My goodness! That is very striking, someone has put a lot of imagination into it.
ReplyDeleteLovely to catch up with your butterfly and Odonata posts. You have some superb photos and so much variety. Your Pink-edged Sulphur is very similar to our Brimstone and Clouded Yellow. I love all the fritillaries and again they are quite similar to some of ours.
Yikes, that's an impressive garden. I'm much more natural in inclination, of course, but I always appreciate creativity in a garden!
ReplyDeleteLisa
What a cool way to recycle! Here another idea how about hanging some wind chimes or garden spinner in the garden to bring the element of wind!
ReplyDelete