Chanticleer - Part 2

Earlier this week I posted about my visit to Chanticleer. I wanted to continue the tour with this follow-up post. It might be helpful to follow along with the Garden Guide map. Again, it was a really sunny day so good pictures were difficult to come by.

J and I left the Chanticleer Garden House, the main residence, and continued on to the Serpentine. This was filled completely with red and yellow sunflowers. It was a paradise for bees. Considering how worried I've been lately about bees, it made my heart happy!

From there we continued through the Bulb Meadow...

... and into the Asian Woods.

There were little seating areas like this one tucked away in many areas of Chanticleer

Stone steps leading to a stream

From there we walked on to the Pond Garden. I was admittedly a little stressed out in this area - there were so many little paths here and there and I didn't want to miss any of them! 

There were several different ponds feeding in to one another. Each had plantings all around them but ample space to step up close to the water and take it all in. This area had a very loose and wild feel, as if there was no rhyme or reason to the plantings. 

If you look closely, you can see a pond on the left of the above photo. To the right is a stone path leading over a stream and into another pond garden area. I didn't realize there were so many ponds until we'd gone up a hill and looked down below. Each set of plantings made you feel like you were enclosed in your own little universe. 

Behind the pond gardens and up a hill was an arbor. This started to set the mood for the Ruin Garden.

Arbor with intentionally overgrown plantings and stone steps

The Ruin Garden was built on the footprint of the now-razed home of Adolph Jr. (who, besides being an arborist was a decorated World War 2 spy!)  The original home was apparently too unstable to use as part of the garden so it was torn down. A new structure was built to resemble a ruined home. 

A giant stone head greets you on your way to the Ruin Garden

A fountain with heads in it. This was apparently the site of the bathroom. Get it?

If the garden designer was going for an eerie, abandoned feel here, s/he achieved it.

On from the Ruin Garden past Bell's Run Creek...

... and to a working water wheel surrounded by perennials and roses.

And with this post, we've gone two-thirds away around Chanticleer Gardens. I'll wrap it up with a final post, so stay tuned!