If You Love It, Photograph It!
If You Know It, Write About It!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Niagara-on-the-Lake Part II; Niagara Parks Botanical Garden
Niagara-on-the-Lake II, Ontario, Canada
Chamber of Commerce
Welcome!!! There were so many beautiful pictures of Niagara-on-the-Lake that I couldn't fit them all in one issue of the blog. Thought I'd share some more with you.
Love the colorful streets/islands
Dragon Wing Begonia
The dragon wing begonia appeared to be used in many of their plantings and hanging baskets. This begonia is pretty much maintenance free and works great in hanging baskets. It is heat tolerant and requires little water. You want to plant it in soil that is well-drained, and amended with composted or rotted manure. This will help in the production of flowers. It is also recommended to fertilize them every two weeks with a liquid fertilizer to help with the flower production.
Even the parking areas behind the shops
had beautiful hanging baskets
If you plant it in the ground it is wise to mulch it because even though it requires little water it will benefit from a consistent supply of moisture.
You can grow them in flower beds, window boxes, containers, and hanging baskets in sun or shade. The more sun it gets, the more water the plant will need. If the leaf edges turn reddish, that is a sign that it needs more water and fertilizer.
This plant is grown as an annual but you can overwinter it using cuttings. For more information on propagating from cuttings see one of my previous blog issues that includes an article on Overwintering Coleus. This will explain how to propagate your plant.
Foot entrance to back parking lot
This was a very welcoming little village. Every where you looked beautiful displays of flowers and plantings.
Shaw Cafe & Wine Bar
One of the many beautiful shop entrances
Couldn't resist photographing this picture of a fall window box for you
I love everything about this!
Also, if you missed the first article of Niagara-on-the-Lake that I published last week you can find it here: Niagara-on-the-Lake
There are several links in that issue to the parks, wine and bike trails, the Shaw Festival, and Historic Fort George.
Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Ontario, Canada
We also had the opportunity to spend a little time at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens. Even though it was late in the season they had several beautiful plantings that still had a lot of bright fall colors of oranges, yellows, and reds. The Botanical Gardens are located between Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara-on-the-Lake, five miles north of the Falls on Niagara Parkway. The gardens are free to the public, but there is a parking fee. They are open from dawn until dusk every day of the year. The displays are changed for the seasons. There is also a Butterfly Conservatory located on the site. When we got there the Butterfly Conservatory was closing and we didn't have time to go through it (spent too much time at Niagara-on-the-Lake). There is a fee for the Butterfly Conservatory. Here is a link to the Butterfly Conservatory.
The photo below is where their rose gardens are located. Most of the roses were finished blooming, but there were several other flowers that offered a lot of color for the end of the season.
The Botanical Garden serves as a classroom for the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture. If you click on this link you can see the aerial view of the four photos below that make up this area of the Botanical Garden. (The aerial view is one of four photos on this link.)
Because it was so late in the day, most of the visitors had already left. That made a perfect time for photos!
This is a view of an area in the knot garden
Lucky shot!
I love the beautiful fall colors of this planting arrangement
The Floral Clock located south of the Botanical Gardens
Brock's Monument in the center background Photo by Ted Link
Lantana standard trees
I am assuming that they will bring these lantana standard trees inside for the winter because their hardiness zone is 8+. When I first saw them blooming they looked like miniature orange trees. They were so unusual to see in this form as a standard (tree shaped) for our northern climates. I was surprised at all the plantings that were trimmed in the standard shape. I kept trying to figure out where they were going to keep all of these standard forms over winter.
Here is a 5 minute YouTube video of Niagara-on-the-Lake (not taken by me):
I visited Niagara-on-the-Lake last week and was told by the B & B owner that the flowers are fertilized with "blue water", a mixture of nutrients. I would like to find out the formula! btw the tropical plants such as Angel's Trumpets are apparently wintered over in the greenhouse and then sunk into the ground in large tubs for the summer season.
Thanks for this information, edybun. I "Googled" Blue water and there were a few companies that make it. One of them I heard before, Peters, but I wasn't familiar with the other company. It's worth a try. I wish I had room to over-winter some beautiful plants like the Angel's Trumpets. They were just amazing. There greenhouses must be huge to accommodate all those large tubs. Thanks for commenting.
We also had the opportunity to spend a little time at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens. Even though it was late in the season they had several beautiful plantings that still had a lot of bright fall colors of oranges, yellows, and reds. The Botanical Gardens are located between Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara-on-the-Lake, five miles north of the Falls on Niagara Parkway. The gardens are free to the public, but there is a parking fee. They are open from dawn until dusk every day of the year. The displays are changed for the seasons. There is also a Butterfly Conservatory located on the site. When we got there the Butterfly Conservatory was closing and we didn't have time to go through it (spent too much time at Niagara-on-the-Lake). There is a fee for the Butterfly Conservatory. Here is a link to the Butterfly Conservatory.
I visited Niagara-on-the-Lake last week and was told by the B & B owner that the flowers are fertilized with "blue water", a mixture of nutrients. I would like to find out the formula! btw the tropical plants such as Angel's Trumpets are apparently wintered over in the greenhouse and then sunk into the ground in large tubs for the summer season.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this information, edybun. I "Googled" Blue water and there were a few companies that make it. One of them I heard before, Peters, but I wasn't familiar with the other company. It's worth a try.
DeleteI wish I had room to over-winter some beautiful plants like the Angel's Trumpets. They were just amazing. There greenhouses must be huge to accommodate all those large tubs. Thanks for commenting.