Located east, across the Kent Valley, from the other gardens, Soos Creek Botanical Garden was created over a 40 year period by a descendant of the original Norwegian settlers on this land. It is 22 acres of stroll gardens and natural areas and is open to the public free of charge.
A noisy resident of the aviary.
There are two parts of this garden that I love the most, the pond and the long double borders.
The borders rely on shrubs and small trees to carry out the purple and gold theme, accented by perennials flowering throughout the season. 
In the wooded area at the bottom of the garden, the Kalmia - Mountain Laurel - are just getting ready to pop open.
A fir and cedar sharing the same root zone.
When Kalmia buds open it's as if they turn inside out, ....
.....like this.
Walking back up the border on the side path. It's like walking inside the border.
And back to the pond.
A great place for a sit down.
And then on to the front of the property to the rose garden.
In the fuchsia garden the plants are just emerging from winter shut down, but there are other lovelies there.
Like this fringe tree.
And clematis.
And there you have it, the three gardens we visited last Saturday.
Now it's already Saturday again! We have the kids with us for two nights while Jill is in the mountains.
We have had a productive week here at Reeder Gardens, and on Sunday Tom and I leave for a little vacation at the Rockaway Beach cabin. No WiFi, so no blogging for a while, but I'll see some of you on Facebook via smart phones.
So long.
