Hello gardeners! Welcome back to Ozzy’s Garden. A few days ago we went to the Waitakaruru Arboretum in New Zealand, a lovely sculpture park in the woods, about ten minutes outside of the city, a lovely walk for all those who come there. Here is everything about it!
As you first head to the front desk have a go at the Ruru trail. See if you can spot some of the Ruru statues hiding through out the walk! There are fifteen in total, we managed to find twelve out of the fifteen. No-one has found all fifteen yet, the record is currently fourteen. If you get a chance to go, (Which I strongly advise) have a go to find all of them. See if you can find a real Ruru having a sleep in or on a tree! Once you’ve found more than five, head back to the desk and post it to possibly win a prize!
As you trek around the gardens, look for some of the beautiful sculptures along the trail in the park, they can be anywhere, all with wonderful proportion. Some are pictures of things, and some are just fun, wacky shapes, or sentences formed in art! There is over one hundred sculptures to find, can you find all of them? Here are some of the ones we found, will you find more?
As you trek this amazing walk, stop by some of the side routes and visit places especially made as different countries of the planet. As you walk through this multi-country biological tour, try and spot your national place, and explore what it would feel like to be in another part of the world like the U.S., plant wise.
I really hope you get the chance to visit the Waitakaruru Arboretum, I found it brilliant and I hope you do to!
Hello and Welcome back to Ozzy’s garden, here is another post of a garden I visited in Tucson. Back before the U.S. settlers arrived, there lived a native American tribe called the Tohono tribe. This tribe lived around the gardens, so the botanic garden was name after them – Tohono Chul.
We went there a couple of times, so we know a lot about it, here is what we discovered.
Bistro
When you go in you have the popular bistro beside you, where there are lots of option to eat! If you get a membership you get 10% off of the bill once you’ve paid! You can pick an indoors or an outdoors seating area in the desert sun.
Frost in the desert
When we went there it was their winter, so they had frost protection out, and the gardeners put cups on the cactus arms, so that they don’t get cold!
Play area
Once examining the gardens, if your travelling with little ones, why not head to the play area? There’s painting, and a marble run, a slide inside, and lots more for the little ones! While the children are playing, perhaps you could look at the the plant and bushes, and have a search for butterflies and bees?
Plants
There are lots of cactuses dotted around Tohono, see if you can spot any of these:
Saguaro
Of all the south Arizona plants, the Saguaro cactus is the most common, growing only in the Sonoran desert, a cactus with a unique way of surviving in the desert, with water held like a camel, and red flowers, full of seeds.
Giant dinner plate
Accompanying the saguaro, this cactus also fills most of the desert, but unlike the saguaro, the giant diner plate can survive 4000+ft in altitude, but this cacti trails along the floor, getting more “plates”.
Barrel cactus
The barrel cactus isn’t as common as the Saguaro or dinner plate, but you find it frequently, and it often grows in clumps, but sometime they fall over. They have sometimes got a circle of colour on top though.
Agave
The agave is not a cacti, but a succulent, and you see it as much in the Sonoran desert as a Dinner Plate. This plant has long, spiky, pointed stems, and can grow up to 1-2m in height when in a really good growing spot.
Jumping Chola
The Jumping Cholla doesn’t actually jump, but when you get close to it a bit of it clings on to you, and thats how’s it reproduces! The cholla seeds (which looks a tiny bit grown) just hang of, almost like there about to drop off!
Trails
The trails are the best way to spot all the Arizonian plants, the one we went on goes out into the wild desert, or it seems so, and there is a couple of Saguaro cactuses with hundreds of arms on them! If you want to explore what it is like in the desert, the trails are for you!
Events
When we went there was a couple of events, and here is what the gardens did for it:
Halloween
Tohono Chul had decorated their gardens with massive glowing pumpkins, you can walk through the gardens in the dark, and find pumpkins displaying things you recognise!
Day of the dead
Walk through the gardens or listen to music outside the art gallery, and in the gallery there is day of the dead celebration things, and get some food under the sheltered spot!
Christmas
Enjoy all the pretty lights as you stroll round the botanic gardens, and go down a lit up garden path full of christmasy things! Enjoy fun Christmas music with fairy lights.
Every Month
Pop in for a lovely movie night! Snuggle up indoors and have delicious evening snacks like popcorn and candy floss.
I hope you enjoy Tohono Chul if ever have the chance to go there, I hope that if you do, you can do everything this park has to offer!
Hello Gardeners! Welcome back to Ozzy’s gardens, it’s been a long time! In this post, we will be looking at the gardens of Waimea falls, in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. This place is near the north shore, where they hold surfing competitions, and it is also in a valley! It is mostly acknowledged for its waterfall. Stick around to learn more!
When we arrived at the gardens, it was nearly lunch time, so when we arrived we had lunch from the selection of shops at a table and saw the beautiful birds in the area (also a stray peacock!)
Once you get your admission and are in the park, there is a forest of plants and trees with pretty flowers of all kinds!
Once having a look around the entrance area, why not catch the shuttle bus up to the waterfall so that you can make the most of it! The shuttle runs every 30 minutes from 9:45am – 2pm.
Once you reach the waterfall, you are at Waimea Falls biggest attraction!
There are changing rooms and storage centers at the waterfall. Grab a life vest and then you can dive into the lake under it! For the best experience, swim next to the waterfall, a jump in front of it and get carried away by the current!
When going back through the park, there are some fun activities you can do like:
Hawaiian Games
Play some old Hawaiian games such as bowling where you bowl a circular stone through two sticks, or Hawaiian checkers where you can only jump over the opponent’s pieces in a straight line and try to make your opponents pieces stuck and unable to move!
Living area:
Have a look around what an old Hawaiian village would look like, with houses for every activity such as cooking, sleeping, male and female eating areas, and lots more!
Check out the healing house to see Hawaiian medicines, and then do some crafts in the making House!
Lakes:
These are hard to find! Walk through the park and try to spot the lakes and find some wildlife hidden in the reeds!
Plants around the world:
Stroll through the park and see plants from foreign countries like Madagascar and South America and learn all their names!
The Cannonball Tree
The Cannonball tree had lots of big, reddish balls growing on it, and looked like a big Cedar tree with vines around it! These towering plants can reach 100ft high!
Blue Jade Vine
The blue jade vine lives up to its name with the beautiful turquoise flowers hanging from its bright green vines, in Waimea Falls there is a tunnel of this beautiful plant!
Wild Orchid
The orchid has massive buds growing out of its trunk, these plants are one of the oldest flowering species alive! This plant can grow anywhere, excluding the north and south poles.
Banana Tree
The banana tree is a classic tropical plant, growing in the rainforest! Hanging from its palm tree like leaves, there are massive batches of bananas!
Sugar Cane vegetable garden
This Sugar Cane garden is full of sugar canes! As a long grass with sugar, this plant is native to tropical countries only.
Pink Pineapples
What!?? Pink pineapples! These are here in Waimea Falls! Growing on top of a small, spiky , leafy plant, these are all pinkish red!
I hope this blog helps you where to go if you ever go to Hawaii, I would highly recommend Waimea Falls to anyone who wants to go there, with the waterfall, and the games, and so much more!
On the 19th September we went to Painshill Park, it was full of big trees and plants. To enter we want across a really cool bridge.
When collecting our tickets, guidebook and map, I was also given a Duck Hunt Challenge. I had to find a Swan, Mallard, Canada Goose, Tufted Duck, Egyptian Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Greylag Goose Cormorant, Heron and Coot.
There was a choice of following the red or blue route, we took the red route, which started by passing a huge tree stump that I climbed with my sister.
The Vineyard – Is a big field full of grape vines. The vineyard was on a slope that went down to an ornamental lake.
Gothic Tower – We could see the Five Arch Bridge from the Gothic Tower. The roof was very pretty.
The Crystal Grotto – According to mythology, grottoes were portals to other worlds and the home of the nymphs, which are fairy spirits that look after nature.
Five Arch Bridge – Has five arches, as you would expect. It was where we changed routes to the Blue route.
The Giant Cedar Tree – There were lots of cedar trees, but I found the biggest one. I spotted it from the Gothic Tower. I like Cedar Trees, because I’m in Cedar class at school
At the end of the route, Me and Mummy raced back to the shop for a yummy Cream Tea.
We had a lovely day, I would recommend Painshill to anyone who asked 🙂
