Ju Raku En Japanese Gardens

Further along on  our trip to the Darling Downs, we went to these lovely gardens who'se name roughly translated means "to enjoy peace and longevity in a public place".  Ju Raku En was only just beginning to awake from its winter slumber, so we saw many things in bud or just beginning to flower. As yet  it's still quite a young garden, maintained by the University of Southern Queensland, where it lays on part of their Campus.  You can find more about it here .

I loved the peace and quiet there, even though there were a lot of visitors strolling about.  Tranquillity pervades the gardens and it's all quite serene.

 I would love to return one day, deeper into Spring, when the wisteria and all the cherry blossoms are in bloom and the banks of irises are in full flower...

I have always had a softness for Oriental themes, and loved the streams and waterfalls created in miniature here.

 We took quite a few photographs overall and thoroughly enjoyed the stillness, broken only by the ducks and ibis that frequent the lake and streams; it felt as though one could sit for hours and look out over the water, absorbing as if by osmosis, the gentle but  precisely manicured areas of camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas, cypresses, rolling lawns and budding fruit trees.

I hope you enjoy our pictorial reminiscence of this gem tucked away on part of Australia's Great Dividing Ranges...we came home tired and happy from a great day out, having seen new things and new places  :)

This signpost stands just inside the entrance to the Gardens and I feel it's a lovely note to end on... a symbol of two cultures united by one botanical voice.

Spring Bluff Historical Railway Station & Gardens

 

On 29th August this year, Sid and I went on an excursion with our local seniors' group to some parts of the mountains in the Great Dividing Range, which, incidently, runs most of the length of Australia's eastern coast   We had a lovely day out, the first place we visited being Spring Bluff, near Murphy's Creek, on the way to Toowoomba, at a lower part of the Ranges.  It was a beautiful morning and we had set off early in our touring bus and arrived at the Bluff in time for morning tea.  Needless to say, I took a lot of pictures, as the gardens there are just so pretty and blooming with annuals and cherry blossoms, amongst other things.  I hope you enjoy the pictorial journey with me  :)  Here is how it used to look in the early days of construction...

As you will see, it has changed and developed a great deal.  You can check out its history here.  I loved all the flowers as you will observe and they were just coming into their first Spring flush of blooming...

Primulas, petunias, statice and pansies were just a few on offer, plus begonias and cherry blossoms just beginning to bud...

Looking happy beside a blooming embankment, were Sid and I....morning tea was being prepeared as we prowled with the camera!

A view of the Cafe

Another view of the Cafe and Station

I hope you enjoyed sharing part of our morning on the Darling Downs...there will be another post soon of the Japanese Gardens in Toowoomba as soon as I finish editing the photos  :)

What flower is this?

I just found this glorious flower in a magazine I was browsing. I think it may be a hippeastrum but I'm unsure...got any ideas? I think it's colouring is spectacular to say the least, and I love the curve of its petals....aren't flowers simply magical?

It's Spring!

September the First is officially the primo day of Spring here in Australia and I am filled with joy at the prospect of new growth, new beginnings, new freshness everywhere.  My jasmine is blooming, sweet and dusky on the evening air and hope rises within me that this will be an extra-beautiful season of change within nature and the blessedness of all new life.

I think, deep in our heart of hearts, everyone loves Spring; the air is laden with fragrance, one feels energised and refreshed somehow and it's a lot more than just a perfunctory date on a calendar.  I am in love...

In love with life itself on this glorious sunny day filled with so much promise!  My night flowering jasmine, pictured above, is redolent with the warmth and sultryness of a beautiful woman, such is its perfume after sunset.  It is heady and heavy, rich with passion and the desire to recreate.

The bower of beauty above is candy pink and soft against the sun, inviting bees and insects to lunch in the grandest way  :)  I love its soft and tender petals and the way it dances on a gentle breeze...

My Carolina jessamine is the clearest, creamiest and most lovely of yellows, cascading with vigour against the upright at my patio edge.  I love it; even though it is without perfume, its clarity and energy will  refresh me each Spring day to follow.

The tender blue-mauve flowers of the butterfly bush are pushing softly into the warm Spring air now and will only gain more dear flowers as the season progresses...  Tiny yet glorious all in one!

And what would Spring be without the gentle beauty of the grape hyacinths; blue and lovely bells against slender green foliage.  I am still waiting for my other hyacinths to bud, and grow impatient with each passing day; longing for the fragrance that only they can impart...no wonder I am in love with Spring!