Flowers in the Garden

When my sister and I went to Garven Gardens (Hot Springs, AR) last week, we saw more than the gorgeous summer glass display. (I wrote about it here)  It's a botanical garden so, yes, there were flowers. They took a back seat to the glass on this trip, but we did enjoy they're beauty. It's hydrangea time in Arkansas and the garden was full of them. Every color and variety you could imagine. They were hard to photography due to overhead sun, but you can't plan the weather, you just have to go with the flow!

I'm not a botanical expert, so I don't know the names of all these flowers. I could do a little research, I know, but I think I'll just enjoy their pink beauty.

 

 

More pink. I do know this is Bougainvillea in the foreground. In the background you can see the pavilion with the glass roof where I took the shots laying on my back of the glass chandelier.

 

 

You want to see one more of the glass chandelier? Okay!

 

 

Although all the flowers were beautiful there was one bunch that blew me away! As we walked around the great lawn,  we rounded the corner and WOW, rising from the other flowers stood these gorgeous lilies.

 

 

 I've never seen a stalk of lilies with so many blooms.

Nor, have I seen lilies this tall. We decided they were at least six or seven feet tall. Way over our heads!

 

 

 

I've never see blooms this huge. The blooms were wider than my hand span. Maybe 8" across. No kidding!  Huge blooms.

 

We wondered about them. How do they grow lilies this big? I know this garden has the best in everything, soil, light, care, and watering, but really eight feet tall!  I learned the answer later that week. I follow the garden's blog and they posted on just this subject. I'll just quote the blog...

 

"It's an Orientpet, a cross between the large, fragrant orientals so popular with florists and a trumpet lily, known for their vigor and tall, strong stems.  This one has the huge, fragrant flowers of the orientals, with the height and trumpet shaped blooms of the trumpets.  And when we say height, we mean it.  Some of the taller stalks on this lily are easily 7 feet or more!  It’s a spectacular sight, with each statuesque stalk holding five to seven huge blooms at once. Between the lilies and the gardenias the garden is an ocean of sweet scents, almost like walking into an incense shop."    http://www.garvangardens.org

 

I love that description "sweet smells that overwhelmed our senses!" The fragrance was simply indescribable!

 

I hope you enjoyed the flowers. Next time I'll show you the water, which really looked cool on the hot day we were there!!