Gather Ye Rosebuds

Do you remember me telling you about the mammoth quest my sister and I undertook to find a fabled land of heady blooms and acres of lawn? That, armed only with a vague description (it's HUGE, so much SPACE, so many ROSES, to the EAST) supplied by my brother, a determined step, and an empty SD card, we set off with the intention of fulfilling our olfactory and visual hopes and dreams? 

Yeah, that time we got lost in a park at the wrong side of the city after discovering we'd been given the wrong compass points. That time.

Well, this time, THIS TIME I am here with the roses, and for all his vagaries, he was absolutely spot-on - there is so much space, the lawns are pristine, the roses are many. Timing is of the essence, though. I was here late last July with my sister, and so many of the blooms were already past and setting into hips. It appears that they don't exercise a dead-heading policy in the park, because these roses should be blooming well into November if they're properly looked after, not already finishing up at the end of July because someone decided to skive-off their rose-caring classes at horticulture college. (I may be being mean. Of course I have no idea why the roses are left to bloom, decay, and set fruit, but considering how well the rest of the gardens are tended, I can only presume it's on purpose.) 

So time really is of the essence if you want to experience the full wonder that is the Rosarium at Westbroek Park, because when the stars are aligned you're presented with quite an astonishing, and beautiful sight.

I Am What I Am

"Nic has a strong suspicion that all her gorgeous (now too big) plus-size evening gowns she sold on eBay have gone, judging by the buyers' names, to drag queens! 

Huzzah! And may those dresses continue to have fabulous lives!"

You heard me lament last year that I had outgrown, no... That I had ingrown... Ew, no. That I found myself unable to fill my wonderful concert gowns in a manner appropriate to their ample dimensions.

Thankfully I still had a couple of dresses that were of simple enough construction to let me take in the bodices, and nip in the waists so they didn't hang off my now smaller frame, but my more fitted dresses (currently a fashion oxymoron) were too complicated to alter, too marvellous to throw out, so finding them new owners was the course of action I chose to follow.

And they all went. I had five gowns listed, and they were all won by people with male-sounding names. Now I know not to presume, and that some potential winners don't use their own accounts when bidding online, so the chances were that not everyone that won was male, and if they were they may not have been bidding for themselves... Nevertheless I'd really like to think that those five dresses will be worn by amazing people who know much more about how to wear make-up than I do.

Viva le dive!

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

In all my years of living three miles away from St Andrews, or visiting St Andrews, or studying in St Andrews I never once visited the Botanic Garden. In fact I didn't know it was there for the longest time. The town isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, but just to the south of the Kinness Burn, which at this point meanders through a pretty well-off area, stands eighteen and a half acres of delightful green space, hidden from view by an old, disused railway embankment, and some building developments. That's a lot of ground to be overlooked in the centre of an old medieval town!

According to the website of the garden itself, "about 8,000 species of ferns, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, are grown here. Some are native to Scotland but most grow wild in other regions of the world. All those outdoors are hardy and can be cultivated successfully in the climate around St Andrews. The soil is developed in glacial till overlying magnesian limestone. In the upper part of the garden the texture is a clay loam but near the Kinness Burn, it is sandy with some gravel."

The day was dreich, but it hardly mattered, because my word, what an impeccably kept space! Utterly chock full of colour and variety, and I suspect I took around one photo per each of the species represented, plus a good few extra of each of the irises - my favourite type of flower!

Lamentations Of A Chocolate Kind

"Nic was starting to think that going gluten-free might not be quite so excruciating after all, until she read the ingredient list of a Cadbury's Double Decker.

WOE, OH WOE IS ME!!!"

Not even a 'may contain gluten'. Nope.  Straight out PILES of wheat and gluten and I want to stamp my foot on the ground and tell the world that it's just not fair.

I won't, but my inner toddler is having a right old tantrum just now.

East, West, Home Is Best

My sister and I went on a walk along the West Sands this afternoon. Long walk plus real sand equals screamy-tired leg muscles. But happy ones, because this is a view from my childhood. Not to much the white tents that are there for the Open, but that iconic skyline. Yeah, and the grey skies pretty much, too. The dunes have been fenced-off since I last walked along here (which is too-long ago) to protect them from erosion, but there are board-walks both old and new to take you from the beach to the road that separates it from the Old Course golf links just behind. 

It's really pretty wonderful out here on this spit of land!

In The Pink (Purple, Red, Yellow...)

You do not know how long I've been waiting for these azaleas and rhododendrons to get their act into gear!! Well, yes, obviously just as long as everyone else, but Spring has been so late in arriving this year that I was wondering if she was every going to turn up at all. Late, and strangely so considering that Winter couldn't be bothered in putting in a real appearance either, and certainly not to the extent where you'd expect Spring to be too scared to show her face until it was safely over. 

But she's here now, and certainly not afraid to pull up her greens skirts and dance a colourfully petticoated can-can!

So instead of heading off home after I had made my early morning visit to the Japanese Garden this ay-em, I made my way around the main Clingendael estate especially because I knew these babies were finally out. I came on an azalea-hunting mission back in April, but returned home empty-sighted, disappointed to see just how lackadaisical Spring was acting. (She was probably still Wintering somewhere warm.) I had a cursory glance the couple of times I was visiting the Japanese Garden last month, and although there were stirrings in the old buds, it was nothing to get excited about. But now, almost two months later than last year, there's a fireworks display of azaleas that has my shutter finger twitching! (Forgive me, but "touch-screen finger-prod twitching" lacks a certain photographic romance and style to my eyes.)

Following the colourful route around the park, I eventually drew up to the north side of the estate, where the baroque-inspired formal Dutch geometric garden is laid out, capped by a wonderful sweeping marble staircase, itself made secondary to an dramatic display of either Allium Giganteum or Allium Globemaster (Dr Google couldn't convince me one way or the other). But (please forgive me any horticulturists reading) it didn't really matter, because how fabulous is that tableau of ostentatious onions?

Dear Mr Grounds-Keeper, you're worth your weight in allium bulbs!

Night Owl To Early Bird In One Fell Swoop

I got up super early (for me) today, because I wanted to find a quieter, less crowded time to take a final turn around the Japanese Garden before it closed for the end of the season. I was initially a little disappointed to find the weather somewhat overcast, but once I took a few photos I realised that the lack of glare and strong contrast gave my camera phone a fighting chance of taking some really special shots.

It was perfect timing on many levels: the colours were at their most bold and vibrant; there was a total of five people in the park, two of which were ensconced in the pagoda taking gothic fashion photographs (the model was wearing the most delicious creations but I couldn't quite gather enough courage to kinnear a shot or two); and the watery sun gave me and my phone the perfect light to capture it all!

Wakare aki made!