Thursday 15 September 2016

Music in the Park

As our Carnival of Flowers starts tomorrow and it will be really busy in all the parks and competition gardens in our city, some friends and I did a tour of the beautiful and quirky Laurel Bank Park yesterday. The theme this year is 'Music in the Park' and while we were busy taking photos the gardeners were equally busy sprucing up the gardens for the rush of visitors at the weekend.


I didn't do too good a job of the collage as I tried to join up three different photos but you get the idea...hopefully :-) There is a viewing platform in this section of the park which makes it easier to read the words which are spelled out in each garden.



Some of the bands which were mentioned were The Beatles, AC DC and ABBA and I think there was a saxophone, a guitar, piano keys etc. Of course it looks even better from the cherry picker which takes a photo for the local newspaper each year. My photos don't do the gardens justice unfortunately.




It is always interesting to see the variations each year depending on how much rain there has been during winter and how warm or cold it has been. Last year the Wisteria Arbour wasn't flowering as well from memory but it certainly is beautiful this year. It is a lovely place to relax if you need to have a sit down during your visit. Not far from there is the Croquet Club hall where Devonshire Teas and lunches can be bought during the Carnival. 




 There was colour everywhere one looked...





 ...and, as I said, these gardens are a little bit quirky!




There are hundreds of tulips on display....





...in every colour of the rainbow. 






 Before we headed to the Croquet Club hall for a light lunch, we walked through the scented gardens which were created from ideas presented by the Downs Association of the Blind. There were a couple of ducks having a swim and adding to the tranquility of these gardens.




Today, before the rain arrived,  my son and I had a look at one of our other popular parks, Queens Park, where the gardens are more classical and they look spectacular from the viewing platform. We took three cameras with us to see which one took the best photos and I will show you some of the better ones in my next post if you don't think you will be too bored :-) 

There are so many events on next week I am not sure what I will end up going to as we are certainly not spoiled for choice here in our beautiful city. 



10 comments:

  1. Beautiful Spring time there! We will be transitioning into fall here very soon. Though it is my favorite month, followed by Spring, I dislike winter more every single year. Thank you for sharing the pictures. I love to see your area!

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    1. Monica, I can well imagine you would dislike winter. I am a bit the same at times although ours only last for three months.

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  2. flowers are never boring! plus love your photos, never know what we get til we see them & they are never photo-shopped which is even better!
    looks like your city is putting on a grand display again, look forward to seeing some of it again through your blog
    thanx for sharing

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    1. Selina, they are certainly not Photoshopped as I can't afford to buy that in the first place :-) The flowers are just beautiful here at this time of the year.

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  3. It's painting with plants isn't it? Beautiful examples of how creative gardening can be. I would like to have a wisteria like that in my garden, what a lovely place to sit. More photos? Yes please.

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    1. I would like a wisteria too, Sherri. I really should plant one as they are so beautiful.

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  4. Love how Laurel Park looks in your photos, when I went (last week) some of the flowers hadn't yet opened, so I couldn't make out the words. Looking forward to more pics. Thanks. Guida

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    1. Guida, when we were there the gardeners were dead heading the pansies. I had trouble reading the words but when I looked through my camera it was quite clear although we had to ask the gardeners what some of the gardens featured, e.g. saxophone.

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  5. I think the most wonderful thing about flowers is that they speak of success and surplus. Once upon a time, if you had time to plant and tend flowers, then it meant that you were up to date with your crops, your coffers were full, there was peace in the land and one's mind could be turned to the delights of flower gardening. I lament these days the lack of flowers in front gardens. As a kid you could walk down a suburban street and enjoy all the flowers....these days folk only have time for self-sufficient natives and other generic bushes that cope well with zero attention....or pavers...or rocks......too busy at work (which I titally understand). Flowers in the garden of homes also speaks of care and delight, art and creativity. My Nan and mum used to talk of the war time where every thing was hard yakka, but there were always flowers. Flowers were for sale very cheaply at train stations and markets, folk used to throw handfuls of seeds out of train carriage windows to cheer up the vacant land running along side train tracks too.

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    1. Mr.HM, that is very interesting. I didn't realise that. I was born just after WW2 and mum always had a flower garden from memory.

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