a visit to Kingsbrae

In June, the Garden Club of PEI hopped a bus and visited Kingsbrae Garden in St.-Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, a mere 4.5 hour drive from home.  The long ride was worth it.  Over 50,000 perennials, shrubs and trees, goats, alpacas and ducks, and a wonderful restaurant.  It was a wet day, but the misty rain just added to the otherworldly feeling of serenity and magic.

So many varieties of Japanese maples I have never seen.  This one, Acer palmatum dissectum 'Waterfall' truly lives up to its name.

The red-leafed Japanese maple makes a lovely contrast with the pale varigated foliage.

Huge potted dracena dot the property.  I'm trying to imagine how much work it would be to bring them in for the winter.  

A big peony flower has been coaxed to bloom from a tiny plant.

Brugmansia, a tropical tree, produces huge drooping flowers.

Why is this tree in a cage?  

An interesting idea:  creating a "stream" with glass pebbles.

The resident goat reaches for a meal.

A lovely view with a bubbling water feature.

An old grindstone repurposed as a fountain.

A series of raised vegetable beds was covered with netting

 to keep the deer from munching the salad greens.

This obelisk mirrors the plants and the photographer.

A raised spiral is an interesting way to display a plant many don't like growing in their lawns:  wild creeping thyme.  

A fanciful sculpture of a hard-working gardener

a perfectly manicured knot garden

the perfect symmetry of culver's root (centre)

an enticing walkway

no - this isn't a tree.  It's a cast-iron frame crammed full of begonias.