Continued from the previous page.

HERB GARDEN

This garden has lots to see, too. It showcases a variety of annual and perennial culinary and medicinal herbs, some of which are native to Alaska. It is enclosed in an attractive wooden fence, probably to keep four-legged critters out:

 

 

 

Above and below:  foxglove AKA digitalis

 

Above and below:  I believe these are types of yarrow

 

Bright nasturtiums

 

 

EAST (aka LILE'S) GARDEN

This is a fairly new and rather large garden that showcases fruit trees that are hardy to Southcentral Alaska, a large collection of peonies, primulas, and many other interesting plants. The gardens at ABG, most designed by local landscape architects, each have their own character.

 

A young woman relaxes on a bench as a retired gentleman takes photos of the multitude of peonies.

According to the botanical garden's website, this garden is dedicated to Lile Bernard Rasmuson, who died in 1960. My internet research indicates that she married into the Swedish Rasmuson family. Her husband Elmer co-founded the charitable Rasmuson Foundation, considered to be the most generous private donor in Alaska. I believe the Rasmuson family was also quite generous with the Anchorage Museum that I enjoyed so much.

I really loved all the beautiful "Gold Medal" collection peonies in this garden. So did these other visitors:

Peonies sometimes resemble roses. They come in many colors and petal arrangements, as you can see from the ones I selected below:

 

 

Above and below:  note the ants in the center of the flower, having a feeding frenzy!

The next two kinds of peonies have many more petals than the ones above:

 

 

I'm surprised that peonies grow so well in Alaska. I've had them in my own flower beds in Ohio, Georgia, and Virginia and didn't realize they could grow so far north. I inherited my love of these flowers from my mother.

UPPER PERENNIAL GARDEN

The beds in this garden are bordered with construction salvage like concrete test cores and broken-up pieces of sidewalk to demonstrate the use of recycled materials in landscape design. What a great idea!

Here are some of the pictures I took in this garden:

Example of bed edged with concrete test cores

 

Clustered bell flowers AKA campanula

A wildflower trail links the Upper and Lower Perennial Gardens. It has a rustic, wattle-fence edging:

 

Daisies are about like dandelions, only more loved -- they'll grow anywhere!

Few wildflowers were in bloom today along this trail but I've sure seen a lot out in the "wild" where I've been hiking and riding my bike.

THAT'S JUST A TASTE . . .

. . . of what you can see at the Alaska Botanical Gardens. I took a lot more photos than those. And there are additional beds of perennials, annuals, flowering trees, and other native plants at the entry kiosk and shade garden just inside the gate to the gardens but I didn't get any photos of them.

I can highly recommend a visit to the Alaska Botanical Gardens. If you love flowers and/or need a peaceful place to spend a few hours, head to this place.

Next entry:   our day trip to Hatcher Pass and the historic Independence Mine

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the ultra Lab

Previous       Next

© 2012 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil