The Plantations at Cornell

I think this Canna is Tropicana. What do you think Zoey? If you've visited Zoey's Perennial Passion, you'll see what I mean.


As I mentioned in the previous post, Kylie and Ko's wedding ceremony took place at The Plantations at Cornell University. These gardens are so beautifully planned and maintained, a real feast for the eyes, and so full of beauty!

We went back the following day and spent more time just relaxing and enjoying the beauty of it all.

To walk through them is a truly inspirational learning experience. The photos I took will be a handy reference for me, to show which plants pair well together; how tall or short a particular plant grows.... helping to see where in a border to place it; which plants grow well in shade or sun; climbers, grasses, interesting foliage, and plants I've never seen before. There are so many other lessons to learn here. I'd love to go through with a guide to answer my questions!

I'll have to do a couple of posts in order to show you just a sampling of the gardens. As you can imagine, I took a LOT of pictures :)

This is the Orange garden for the orange lovers among you. It's gorgeous!



Dahlias and coleus...a wonderful combination!

There were so many exquisite dahlias! I'll show you more of them in the next post.



This walkway was lined with huge planters.....

...and covered with fantastic vines. I'd love to see them during their bloom period. Ross was checking out the planter to see how it's made.



Here's Ross standing under what I think is a yellow-flowered Trumpet Vine. I've only seen the orange-flowered one before. Look at that curving trunk!



At the other end of the walkway is a beautiful Japanese garden filled with several varieties of Japanese Anemone, among many other things. This one is a double pink.



And here's a white single Japanese Anemone. I just love these flowers in all their variations.



This pathway leads to the site where the wedding ceremony took place. There are several "garden rooms", created by the lovely stone walls, rustic wooden fences, trees and shrubs.



There's the wedding site, under the big shade tree.



A tall border on the left of site.



And looking back towards the gift shop.



This is the border on the opposite side.



Another one of the many beautiful dahlias.



Further over, in another area, there are grasses (for Alice) interspersed with many other plants, most not flowering at this time. I think this may actually be part of the Japanese garden.



This border is filled with herbs, kale and many other interesting and unsual plants, as well as some old favorites. I love the mahogany colored tree with umbrella-shaped leaves. Does anyone know the name of this?

I wish you could've all been there to see these beautiful gardens. They're worth a trip, and free to the public. Be sure to take some time to visit them if you're ever in Ithaca, in beautiful upstate NY.