Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Visiting Clark Botanic Garden

It has rained on and off for three weeks here on Long Island. Finding things to do of interest is challenging at best. A short drive into Nassau County can bring you to the Clark Botanic Garden, (click for more info) in Albertson. One can stroll along the formal gardens or trip along woodland trails into deep shaded plantings.Within the 12 acres is a wonderfully designed living museum containing this Japanese rock waterfall and stream, which empties into three brook-fed ponds.Bamboo soars above a wooden bridge, which is surrounded by wetlands plants of Arrow Leaf, Duck Weed, Yellow Flag Iris, and wildflowers of every color.Climbing Hydrangea drapes over the doorway to the Garden's gift shop.
A turn onto another track reveals a huge clump of Hydrangeas just beginning to show color.Delicate woodland plants thrive in the high shade of the large oak, beech, and tulip trees. The variations of plant size are amazing. Lady's Mantle luxuriates in this garden,as does the Golden Hakone Grass,and the Abyssinian Mustard.Foam Flowers catch sunlight in a break in the canopy of the overhead trees.The immense trees that provide the high shade are an entity that Long Islanders may take for granted. Clark Botanic Gardens has many mature specimen trees and large examples of specialty trees such as this Weeping Hemlock,Umbrella Magnolia, China Fir,and the Korean Stewartia with its Python patterned bark and twining limbs.This is a picture of a variety of the Jack-in-the-pulpit, which was new to me. It was growing alongside on of the ponds. A trip to Clark Botanic Gardens is inspiring even in the rain. Click for their photo gallery.

5 comments:

Elizabeth said...

A pretty green post, Lori.
Loved it!

Sinclair said...

What a beautiful place to visit!

Sinclair said...

not sure how, but your emails come with dates over one month old and embed themselves far into my inbox so I have to weed through a lot of pages to get to them...? email sent tonight came with date of 5/26.

this is my patch said...

I always think gardens look so much better either in the rain, or after rain. There seems to be a perfect light for taking photos, yours are fantastic. I would get so much enjoyment in visiting this botanic garden, there is so much to see. The giftshop looks very inviting and cosy too. Lady's mantle is a favourite of mine, and I allow it to self-seed, to a degree, around my garden. Did you know the yellow flower is a corydalis, I can tell you know your plant names. Lovely post Lori. x

Anonymous said...

Lori,
I would like to ask permission to use the photo of the big tree (with roots starting above ground) from this post.
Did you take it or is it someone elses work? It would go in a banner for a new gardening website/blog.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline