Open Gardens and a Small Finish

I had a lovely day out today with my friend Lisa.  We have our annual outing together to see the local open gardens.

The day started showery, so we thought we would have a damp day.  However, it soon cleared and we didn’t need our brollies at all.

We started out with the gardens in town.  “Blair Athol” is stunning, having won a National Garden award a few years ago.

We visit every year and it is maturing beautifully.

Our next stop was “Bishop Court”, which is a boutique B & B.  The garden is beautiful, but a special feature is the old chapel which is now a delightful dining venue.  We have been lucky enough to attend a dinner there a few years ago.

Here are some random photos of some of the other gardens.

I don’t know what this flower was, but it was stunning.

 

The Koi Carp in this delightful pond were huge.

This little gecko was sweet on his rock.

Such a simple thing can look so good.

My favourite garden is “Hillendale” at Yetholme.  It is a mature cool climate country garden.  This area is about 1100m above sea level and quite often receives snow.

 

It was so good to see it in a good season, as the little stream running through the garden was trickling down the hill to the dam.

The dam was brim full.  Such a lovely change from the last couple of years.

The Rhododendrons are something to behold.  This was by no means one of the large ones.

Just look at the size of these peonies.

Even the vege garden looks stylish.

 

Some of the borders were only just starting to bloom as it is so much cooler up there.

 

After such a lovely day out I realised that I hadn’t completed anything for OPAM.  I can’t have that.  So, I finished off my Secret Santa Christmas Decoration while sitting in the sun on the back verandah.  This is as much as I will reveal. Phew, at least something is finished.

I have been doing a bit of Secret Santa sewing, but unfortunately nothing else.