The Arboretum and Airlie Gardens

Went to two gardens today as it was really nice weather - went to the New Hanover Arboretum which was tiny, not at all what I expected and took about 5 mins to see it all so I went to Airlie Gardens which was huuuge. There was also a "Glass Bottle Chapel" which was made by artist Minnie Evans and I managed to catch it at just the right time of day to have the sun shine through it. Very pretty. They are also home to the Airlie Oak which dates back to 1545 and is the North Carolina State Champion Live Oak, whatever that is. Was a nice place to spend the afternoon so I took lots of pics for ya

I found the Loch Ness monster! It's in a pond in North Carolina haha. This is at the Arboretum

they had a small japanese garden area at the Arboretum along with a japanese teahouse that was built by the volunteers.

Squirrel!!!

It must have been feeding time as all the coi in the pond were clustered in this corner nosing up looking for chow.

This is the start of Airlie Gardens and the Airlie Oak (466 year old tree)

These 3 swans were digging around on the riverbank for ages but of course wouldn't strike a nice pose for me... geez

And then they buggered off

A gannet

pretty snapdragon

This is Minnie Evans' Bottle Chapel

In the centre of the chapel is a tree that has little metal birdies in the branches

One of the bottle faces on the outside of the chapel

One of the other faces