Pics I took on Friday at Duke Gardens

Someone you know graduated?

No, no one I know. Just happened to be there with a camera and took advantage of the Spring beauty.

Where are the gardens located? We went through some beautiful areas around Asheville, but I don't recall the name. I took many close-up photos of some of their flowers in August and framed them in black frames with white matting. Love them.

Some sections redesigned or new - I didn't even get to all of it in 2 hours!

I especially loved the Allium, and the turtles. In one photo, one of them is sitting on a rock with his hind leg up - not sure why, but he was just sitting there like that. Turtle yoga?

in Hillsborough, New Jersey, but I don't know if it's still open.

Years ago, I brought some elderly German relatives there for a visit - Germans are almost as fanatical as the English when it comes to their gardens. None of them spoke a single word of English, so I went along to translate. Fortunately for me, all of the aunts and uncles recognized almost all of the flowers, because my vocabulary of horticultural German was woefully thin and I didn't know the names in English or German. It was a lovely, lovely place.

I know a few of them. The rest I just remain puzzled about. They have a good number of them labeled at the one in NC -- but not all. I get annoyed when I really am fascinated with some of them but there's no sign or label near them. Argh. They change so often though, there's probably no way to label them all.

at the New Jersey Duke Gardens, but I do recall that the guides were wonderfully informative. I thought I heard that the gardens in NJ had closed after Doris Duke passed away. What a shame! They were really beautiful.

I always appreciate it when gardens do mark the plants with the common name and the Latin name. I have to give Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts kudos for this; they're very careful about labeling everything in their very large herb garden and having historical interpreters on hand at the kitchen garden who really know their stuff. It's so much more pleasurable when I know what I'm looking at.

those gorgeous ones, white and also purple that look like long bells? And then the one that's fascinating is #16 like a star blast or something. lol. Beautiful but really odd!

The 'star blast' one is a variety of Allium called "Stars of Persia": http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/allium-christophii-albopilosum-stars-of-persia.aspx

I couldn't think of the name! Thank you.
I love the other one too.

I lived in NC for 5 years and never went to Duke Gardens!

Thanks for letting me see them through you!