John Harvey Photo

June 2007

Go to Slide Show Smaller Images Love those summer nights


One Friday evening I had a small gathering and we played a copy of carcassonne that happened to have been forgotten at my house.  We had pretty much every expansion pack (I'm not a gamer - we may be missing one) including the new dragons and volcanoes.  It was quite a fun game.
Playing CarcassonneLarge Carcassonne Game

VanDusen Garden Tour


New to me this year, we got tickets for the VanDusen garden tour.  10 homes around Vancouver open their gardens (but not their insides) to touring garden geeks.  The houses stretch across the city and you are responsible for transportation.  I usually take macros shots of just flowers so I took this opportunity to just shoot scenics (garden wide shots) and only took my wide angle lens.

Blues And Purples Mixed
1163 29th Ave W

Our first house.  I noticed a few things - while VanDusen had staff on site, no one was checking tickets.  For this first house, the home owner was there and was answering question.  This home was maintained by a couple and they obviously spent a lot of time putting together combinations of plants.  I was particularly impressed with the Irises (which I hadn't seen before) combined with a pointy flower of a similar colour.  A terrific match.


Amazingly Full BackyardArch In Back Yard
6420 Sophia St
 
This house amazed me.  The backyard is completely garden - it might as well be a completely different part of Vancouver.  An old exposed aggregate sidewalk had been broken up to make the steeping stones and some of the planters.  Even though the lot was small there was a secluded cutting garden fenced off in the back.  I think the part that most amazed me was how established this garden was - this thing is a long term work of love.


Blue Flowers Between Natural StonesClassical Garden
58** Hudson Street

There were a collection of 5 houses in the space of a block, several of which had the same gardener.  These house were more classical (plants separated from each other, large open spaces) and were obviously recently made.  In a few places, you could see plants there were still square from their seedling pots.


Large Enough To Play Football
6269 Elm St.

Possibly the largest yard I have ever seen in Vancouver - you could play football in the expansive yard.  There were trails through the side gardens and there many varietals and a decent vegetable garden.  Again, quite established, but you get the feeling (from the small greenhouse) that these people are "pincher's" taking cuttings of rare varietals from friends and growing them to augment their own garden.


  No Lawn Front Yard

4055 W 35th Ave

Another recently landscaped house.  I was unbelievably impressed with this house, not only because of the neighborhood, the beautiful home finishing and the gardens but because of how well it all fit together.  If I won the lottery (and it was big enough to pay for the house and leave a lump sum to start a fund to cover the property tax), I would like this house.


  Moss Between BricksCapstan With Water View

3595 Point Grey Road

Point Grey Road is dominated by new homes that occupy the limits of the lot, straining to maximize the amazing views to be had.  This home was an original (1940's maybe) home, perhaps a third the size of it's neighbors.  The gardens were impressive (I especially liked the moss growing between the bricks in the front) but the view (which was wonderful) seemed to fight rather than complement.


Cat Coming To Saw HiLilies With Maple Behind
2655 Cambridge Ave

The other side of Main street.  In fact, the other side of Nanaimo street - this house has a very full front yard.  I love the macro thing and I could probably shoot this front yard all year round.  The most impressive thing to me was actually just a little pocket of the orange lilies with a maroon Japanese maple behind it.  The colour combination was something I had never seen in a garden before and I was dumbstruck.


Overall, a great day.  Next year I'm thinking of exploring more garden shows in the lower mainland.




Blue Flowers Between Natural Stones
Tags: garden
Amazingly Full Backyard
Tags: garden, Vancouver
Arch In Back Yard
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Tags: garden, Vancouver
Blues And Purples Mixed
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Tags: garden
No Lawn Front Yard
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Tags: garden, house
Classical Garden
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Tags: garden
Lilies With Maple Behind
Tags: garden, Japan
Playing Carcassonne
Tags: game
Moss Between Bricks
Tags: garden, moss
Cat Coming To Saw Hi
Location: Go To...
Tags: garden, house, Vancouver
Capstan With Water View
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Tags: garden
Large Carcassonne Game
Tags: game
Large Enough To Play Football
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Tags: garden, Vancouver
Tags: garden(11), Vancouver(4), game(2), house(2), Japan(1), moss(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2023 to 2005 > June 2007

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