North County Garden Tour
When I left my house for the Garden Tour this morning, fog gradually gave way to a mother of pearl underlay. White clouds floated against a crushed blue flower palette of sky. In other words, it was a perfect day for garden viewing.
I was fortunate to get a great shot of a forty year old tortoise named, Sheldon, who meanders about his garden. The pictures in this post are all of Sheldon's very Japanese influenced garden. He is one lucky tortoise to live in such a beautiful place. He snoozed in the sunshine while I snapped away. Isn't that his job?
This charming garden is located in the historic district of a small town in Sonoma County and belongs to a house built before 1925. "The new landscaped berms are planted with roses, lavender, hellebores, Japanese maples and a vast assortment of perennials." I hope that my photos give you a feeling of this little paradise. The garden is surrounded by tall evergreens and redwoods and was designed with an eye for the "borrowed view" belonging to Japanese garden aesthetics.
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10 comments:
Beautiful and looks very tranquil
ooo the flowers are beautiful!
I love the first photo, because there got one tortoise. Of course, the flower are nice too.
About the turtle and the tortoise, here is the answer:
What's the difference between a tortoise and a turtle?
[Glen Jacobsen and Darrell Senneke] Strictly semantics. All are chelonians. All chelonians are turtles. There is indeed a regional variance in the naming of chelonians. With the advent of modern communications this regional variation is becoming blurred.
In the USA - a turtle is found in or around water and a tortoise is found on dry land. A terrapin is a turtle that is found in brackish water. In general, look at the back legs. If they are webbed, call it a turtle. If they are stumpy (like an elephants) call it a tortoise.
In the UK they apply terrapin to freshwater chelonians, tortoise to land chelonians, and turtle to oceanic dwellers.
In Australia 'tortoise' is used for everything except sea 'turtles'. (There are no land chelonians native to Australia)
Terrapin is also occasionally used as the name for any turtle that is to be eaten by humans in both the UK and USA.
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/faq.html#difference
I've never seen so many lucious pink roses in a row like that. It looks unreal! Sheldon is certainly doing his job!
Thanks for the info, Paul. You are very well informed about these creatures.
How peaceful and lovely!!!!
Sheldon has such a cute face!
The garden is beautiful, I like the roses and artsy things--it looks like a great place to relax.
Hi Chedwick,
I trust you have recovered from Bob festivities. There is always a price to pay for cake you know. :)
I think that all of the beautiful gardens in our land should connect, forming one long string of beauty-upon-beauty. Then, we could each exit our homes to "tour the gardens," and bump into each other along the way, feeling joy amongst the beauty of flowers, functions, and each other!
Cute photo of Sheldon. He is actually quite young isn't he, seeing they live far longer than humans, so he can enjoy the beautiful garden for many more years.
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