Birthday Flowers

Last month, for my birthday, I asked Rich to go with me to Madison, to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, in Madison, Wisconsin to take in some spring blooms.  I'll post a few of the pictures I took.

Rather than showy blocks of all tulip garden beds, this year there seems to be more of a theme of grassy meadows with intermittent blossoms.

The flowering crab apple trees are always a delight to see.

There are many permanent landscape arrangements.  The one below is a rock garden with hardy evergreens, with a few spring bulbs as accent.

This is a garden lettuce and herb bed.

It seems strange to find a Magnolia Tree here in the North, but they apparently survive here, as I've seen this plant several times, in show gardens, but also in people's yards.  Other than being beautiful, they smell rather nice too.

One of Olbrich's premier attractions is the Thai Pavilion, which was gifted to the University of Madison from the Thai Government.  To read more about it, go to this link:  Thai Sala   Here you see it at a distance, beyond one of those grassy meadows with intermittent spring bulbs.

This is one of the earliest peonies I've seen blooming.  It is rather simple, with only one set of blossoming petals.  Most peonies have multiple, giving them a more full look.

It was a beautiful spring day, spent with my best friend.  We also visited several garden stores and bought some new plants and trees for our own yard.