More from the garden of earthy delights.

At the end of last week's very exciting episode, we left Jeanne strolling down a hill in search of some further horticultural adventures. We'll catch up to her in a minute, but in the meantime, I have been doing some research of my own.

You'll no doubt recall, if you're a regular reader of mine, that I mentioned H. Bosch's painting entitled, The Garden of Earthly Delights in last week's post. I said at one point that it was very different than this 'garden of earthy delights,' aka Auckland Botanic Garden. That's true, but with a notable exception.   

The one similarity between the two gardens I think is obvious and it tickles me pink, as my mother used to say when we were kids.  

Look first at this detail from Hieronymus's painting. And then compare it to my photograph of a tree I took at the botanical garden.  I'd say they're a match. I love it. (I think it's a dragon tree.)    

The Garden of Earthly Delights, painted between 1490 and 1510, has been housed at the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum, in Madrid since 1939 and Jeanne and I have seen it each time we visited there.  If you didn't click on the link at the end of my last post and see that painting, here's your chance to do it again. It's an amazing work, and be sure when you go to the article I've linked, that you scroll down far enough to see what the front of the triptych looks like when the wings are folded shut. That's not something we got to see when we were at the museum.  

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

Now, let's catch up to Jeanne. Another thing we liked about this garden is that it had plenty of benches and water fountains.  We always sought out those benches positioned in the shade. We carry a thermos which we refilled several times during the course of our almost 4 hour stay at the gardens.  

Although our sun is still a spring sun, it's power is growing by the day.  The saying, Made in the shade, no doubt originated somewhere hot.  

This is one of the fountains/water dispensers.  

It was at about this point that Jeanne suggested we head back and have some lunch. It was a little early, but we'd beat the crowd. That was so smart of her. When we got into line there were three people ahead of us. By the time we had finished eating, the line had grown to at least a dozen, maybe more.  

(At cafes in NZ, a waiter/-tress does not take your order at your table. You read a menu and and order and pay for your meal at the counter. You are then given a number which you place on the table you select and the meal is delivered when it's ready. Generally, and especially when it's busy, one of us gets in line to order and the other goes immediately to claim a table.  And remember, no tipping.) 

We had passed this group of volunteers working on a bed as we approached the café.

I had loaded wedges and Jeanne had couscous salad, but we shared. A chocolate soda and an iced coffee cooled us down.  

 
Fueled and cooled, we headed back out to explore new territories.  

We started with a desert area.

I call those tall ones, Dr. Seuss trees.  

We came across this plant that appears to be nothing but an assemblage of branches.  The sign said it was from India. 

We continued on and in the Children's Garden, we came upon the Ficus dammaropsis that I promised to show you last week.  

It's a big fig!  The largest of those leaves measures 20 by 30 inches.

See?  Jeanne's hand proves it on a smaller one that she could reach.  

And this is an immature fruit that I found lying on the ground. Wikipedia said this tree comes from Papua New Guinea and that it's fruits are eaten 'only in emergencies.'  Not as tasty as some other figs, I guess. There is a much larger one of these on the tree I noticed.  

I think we're approaching the end of another post. A couple more shots though, to close it out. 

The statuesque lady we met last week at the start of our wander, has apparently found her partner.  

Still more of the 'best of botanica' next time.  See you then, I hope.    -djf