Roses at the Gardens

Earlier this week we went for an evening stroll around the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens.  There are all kinds of neat plants to discover.  I especially liked the Wingthorn rose, Rosa sericea pterancantha.  The new red thorns are translucent and capture the light beautifully.

And the roses are just coming on.  It’s really wonderful.  Check out the fat buds below.  The Gardens is planning a Rose Festival from July 4-12.  Not to be missed.

You can spend as long or as short a time as you like at the Gardens.  Walk on the dykes or do as we did the other night and amble slowly to check out all the neat blooms and plants.  It is wonderful and lush this year – thanks to all that rain we’ve had.

And if you would like regular bloom reports from the gardens, write admin@historicgardens.com.  They’ll be happy to add you to the subscriber list.  Some of the pictures below come from the latest bloom report.

Walking the Historic Gardens’ dyke

Low tide along the Allains Creek, behind the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens.

Annapolis Royal is an excellent place to go for a walk.  And although I’ve described some of my favorites, they haven’t been collected and organized; so …  today I began a project to do them all systematically.  As I complete each walk I will be noting the best parking and route through or around the town.  This new map will follow in the coming weeks.

But for today’s project – a beginning – something easy with the route already plotted, the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens.  I walked briskly around the largest loop of the Gardens. This longer, outside loop takes you out onto the dyke and closer to the Allains Creek.  An evening walk may turn up deer on the marsh and shore birds on the river’s edge , when the tide is out as it was this evening.

This loop is not long…maybe 1.5 km which takes  about 15-20 minutes, with no stops to enjoy the wonderful flowers, plants and animals.  It took me longer today since I stopped for pictures and to try and get as close as possible to the deer.

On the dyke behind the  Historic Gardens