Let's get botanical.

It was Olivia Newton-John who sang, Let's get physical, back in 1981. Well, this past Thursday, we enjoyed another of the excellent bus trips that Gary and Ruth organize for us residents of Waitakere Gardens. On it, we got botanical.  

We visited the Auckland Botanic Gardens, and after passing through the Huakaiwaka Visitor Center, stepped out into an amazing assemblage of botanic microcosms.  It is 158 acres of wide footpaths, manicured lawns, and astounding displays of plants from all over.  

It helped that the weather was perfect. Let me show you around this garden of earthy delights.  You won't actually see scenes as weird as you would in the triptych with a very similar name by Hieronymus Bosch, but you'll enjoy it I think. Kathie and Dianne, this is a place you will very likely get to know personally. I hope so anyway.   

Jeanne is sitting in front of the inside of the visitor's center. This is actually one of my last pictures of the day.  We're beat. We'll head out through those glass doors in a few minutes and hop on our bus for home.  

We had a nice lunch there in the café. 

This sculpture is at the very start of the walks. I think she seems to be saying, "Lets go, already!"

My job now is to keep sight of Jeanne as she heads up and down the paths.  

A giant artichoke

Here's one that I was delighted to see. It's taro. I used to read about it in travel books but never imagined that I'd see it growing.

A couple of impressive Bromeliads. 

This next one is a really special plant. I first encountered this plant when I saw it growing at Summerland Primary and asked the gardener what it was. What a story he told me.    

This vine (here it's all wound up around itself) was discovered on Three Kings Island during a scientific survey in 1945.  No other specimens have ever been found in the wild.  Goats which had been introduced years before to Three Kings had eaten every other vine on the island and researchers discovered just one plant, growing on a cliff that was inaccessible, even to the goats. They used ropes to reach it and took cuttings from it. The original plant, according to Wikipedia, is still there. It has sent out numerous other vines.  The goats have all been removed from the island.  

Happily, the cuttings they took led to it's being planted all over the place. They very likely saved it from extinction that day. 

Here is a link should you want to read more about this plant.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecomanthe_speciosa

Jeanne spotted another treasure.  This is a very weird tree.  Had Hieronymus heard about this one, he would have undoubtedly included it his 'Garden' painting. A young tree would fit right in. 

This tree is already nearing maturity. (In the foreground) They grow slowly. It's leaves have become rounded and green and look almost normal.  They don't start out that way though. 

This below is a young tree. I have picked up fallen leaves in the wild and they remind me most of sections of bandsaw blades. Those narrow leaves you see are stiff and the spines along each side of it are slightly offset from one another and easily sharp enough to cut skin if it were drawn along it with only moderate pressure.  

The name fits so perfectly. Fierce lancewood.  That has got to be my favorite tree here, due to it's oddness.  

As you can see from this shot, this place is huge. And did I mention (I know I did not) that it is free?  It doesn't get any better than that.  

Jeanne is heading down the hill for more, but I think it's time to call it a day for this post.  I'll be back next week.  I can't wait to show you a really big Ficus dammaropsis.     -djf  

Just in case you're interested, below you'll find the link to the Wikipedia article on Bosch's painting. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights