36 My Seedentary Life
June 4, 2021
38 Berkeley Horticultural Nursery
July 2, 2021
The Sun: Chuhily Art of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
I n 2004 this travel flyer announcing a May/June, 2005, tour of "Great Gardens, Palaces & Castles of Great Britain" landed right in my lap.
I showed it to Mike and said, "This would be a trip of a lifetime." He had no response, just looked at me. Typical husband right?!
Later I "happened" to mention it to my mom when Mike could overhear, hoping he would get an idea of how badly I wanted to go. Well, Mom, without my knowledge, talked to Mike and said, "This would be a mother-daughter trip of a lifetime."
A fine demonstration of a Mother-in-Law's Superpower. And it worked!
A few days before our departure, I got a brilliant idea that did not turn out as I intended. Lesson learned: do NOT decide just days before a trip or other big event to change your hair color from "naturally blonde" to the color you were born with, thinking it's a brilliant idea.
As a result, (just hideous!!!), NO pictures of our excursion will be posted here with me in them. Even if that hair color did "bring out my eyes!"
But here's a shot of my glamorous mom arriving in London. After a 16-hour flight, her legs were just too weak to stand.
As promised in the flyer, we toured many gardens and saw many beautiful sights that I will share in future posts. In this post I share some of the fabulous garden art by Dale Chuhily we saw at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
We were so lucky our trip coincided with his glass exhibit there. I’ve seen his work in Seattle (his home town) but never displayed in a garden.
To say the least, Mom and I were mesmerized! The day was very cold and dreary with a few moments of blue sky—typical for London weather—but Chuhily's art put the sun right inside my heart. See what it does for Palm House?
Palm House, Kew Gardens
Built in 1844, Palm House is the world’s largest surviving Victorian glasshouse. Its design takes after an upside down ship. Puts my little greenhouse to shame.
Temperate House, Persians
Temperate House, Persians, closeup
There are plenty of garden-art dealers who offer Chuhily knock-offs and claim they are as pretty as his originals.
I beg to differ!
Green Grass
If you don't see any Chuhily glass, look closely at the blades of grass.
Blue Reeds and Red Reeds
I’d rather have these glass reeds coming out of the ground than damn bamboo!
Persian Chandelier
Why can’t I have THIS hanging above my staircase? An electrical outlet is already installed there with wires hanging out of the hole. Been like that for 13 years!
I showed this photo to Mike. He said no.
I’m patient. I’ll ask again in 7 years.
Ethereal White Persian
I also asked Mike if I could have these for my pond. He said no.
I'd be fine with only one, for plantsake!
Sapphire Star
I wish that I could wish upon a Sapphire Star and Mike would say yes...
Mike said no.
Due to all these NOs, I've had to make do with a book.
But our mother-daughter trip of a lifetime? Priceless.
Photos courtesy Sheri Lynn Burke. All rights reserved.
