| We had some doubts about
visiting the Green Bay Botanical Gardens since most of the trees round here
haven't got any leaves on and apparently many of the 15,000 lakes still have
ice on them. However the 'star' magnolias were in full bloom so we were
tempted. |  |
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Our first mistake was to leave the entrance building by the wrong door. That led us
out into the 'natural' area with reeds left over from last year but not a
lot exciting to look at. |
| We walked round the lake
in hope of finding something better but it is still winter up here if you
are a plant, though the sun was shining and the dragon flies were already
out and chasing mates. |  |
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However we did find our way back to civilisation, but the maze in the
children's garden has a little way to go yet. It is still fairly new and
maybe it will get there in a month or so... |
| There are a few of the
hardier spring
plants in flower and some interesting designs had been laid out. In time
this will interest kids but it needs to mature a little. |  |
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We had daffodils, narcissi and tulips in flower when we left France in February, in England in
March, in April they were out in Ohio and New York. Now we are into May and
they are just making it here. Bearing in mind we are south of Bordeaux here,
it takes some getting used to. |
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| But the settings are
natural and look quite attractive. I think the gardens have only been here
since 1996 so they have some years to go yet. The animals are made of a
material suitable for growing other things on so it would be interesting to
see what these become in the summer. There are many varieties of daffodil
and narcissi with some complex and colourful flower heads. |  |
| One of the plots is laid
out as a chocolate garden, with every plant having some connection to
chocolate. A definite woman's garden.... Ouch! |  |
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For the moment there was not a lot in the way of colour apart from the
daffodils, a few early tulips and these blue hyacinths both of a standard
and a grape variety. |
| And some tulips. There are a few
buildings with seats to enable one to sit and admire the gardens in the
season. This one had one of the few colourful displays to look out on. |  |
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It also has an interesting weather vane. |
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