The temperature was in the low to mid 70s. (22C) There wasn't much of a breeze. The sky was clear and bright blue. The sun still felt warm. When I walked out of the Visitor Center door and into the courtyard, the sweet smell of a jillion flowers whacked me upside the head and made me swoon just a little. Daffodils are everywhere. On the left is a magnolia tree, just starting to bud and bloom. Up on the hill a little to the left, the viburnum are starting to flower and the scent is already intoxicating.
I felt a smile spread across my face as I went up the stairs to the upper pathway that leads to the Children's Garden. I did my regular route: stay to the right at the fork in the path and check out the upper level of the garden, looking the the right side of the path, writing today's date in the grid next to the plant's scientific name.
Just so you know, I'm not a botanist or even a gardener. Most of the plants and trees have signs that list the plant's common name, the scientific name and a factoid. When there's no sign, I have to get creative. The good thing is that most of the plants are also in other areas of the garden, so I will take a photo of the flower I don't know and when I walk around the whole garden, I look for that flower elsewhere and hope there is a sign that tells me what it is. If not, I email the photo(s) to one of the gardeners and she responds with the names. She's a wonderful resource. I try to keep notes so I don't bother her with the same questions all the time.
Continuing on my route, I come back down the main path, still looking to the right. I wind my way past the marvelous-smelling ginormous Daphne plant and enter the Children's Garden proper. I go right into the crab apple tree area. There are six crab apple trees all dolled up with their pink blooms.
Next I head past the rock garden that is also full of early blooms and head under the bridge to the goldfish pond and all the plants in that area. There wasn't much blooming back there today, but there is a lot of greenery.
Around the pond and back under the bridge to the other side of the rock garden and a look at the beds next to the Sprout House. The Sprout House is a cute little room where kids can have birthday parties and where they do activities for kids.
After that I head north onto the Butterfly Walk. Again, not a lot of stuff blooming in there tonight. That area is more full of blooms in the summer. The lilacs on the path are starting to bloom though. I love the look and smell of lilacs!
From there I head back out of the Children's Garden onto the main path. There are some plants on the right side of the trail that are considered part of the Children's Garden, then I'm done. I had to go ahead and walk through the whole garden after that so I could try to find a couple of the blooms that didn't have signs and also for the sheer pleasure walking through the garden gives me.
The evening is my most favorite time to go. There aren't too many people there, although I was surprised and pleased to see folks with picnics at several of the tables. Along the path there are cutouts that lead to decks that are in the trees. Such a great place to read or have a picnic!
Since the last time I was there, the pond has been cleared of all the reeds and it looks a lot bigger. The waterfall was flowing beautifully. I think this may be the first time I did not take a photo of the waterfall! It was pretty though and I thought about it.
The evening is a good time to see different birds and critters. I saw a pair of quail and a couple of squirrels plus a few magpies. I guess I didn't see much, but I heard critters moving around in the bushes. I just let them be.
Here are a few other photos I took:
I think the white bush is a spirea. There are several of them around the garden. This one is blooming along the Floral Walk near the English garden circles. I like the contrast of the white flowers and the dark red bush behind it.
The photo above was taken along the "hot walk". It's a bunch of white and yellow daffodils. Sorry for the quality of the photo. I didn't have a chance to edit it and I saved it from the Cloud, so the sizing is kind of funky. Maybe it kind of resembles a Monet, all blurry and colorful? LOL
This is the pear arbor. It has a fancy French name, but I can't think of it right now. There are four arches and each of them have a different type of pear tree. This is a fairly new addition to the garden and you can see that the pear trees have not joined at the top yet. I can vouch for the fact that they are closer together this year than they were last spring. The pear trees are blooming and it's pretty.
If you live in Salt Lake or come to the area, I certainly recommend a visit to Red Butte Garden. If you don't live here, don't worry. I'll be there every week at least once and I'll do my best to post some good photos of the place. You can follow me on Instagram at sandrak03 to see more photos.
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