To be alive beneath cherry blossoms

I visited the Heritage Museums and Gardens in June last year and reported on it. Spouse and I were there again a few weeks ago, at the end of April, finally with time to visit the two non-auto museums — permanent and visiting art exhibits — and of course to enjoy early spring in the garden.

I really appreciate that the museums, and in fact that place as a whole, encourage photo-taking. There are signs instructing visitors to take photos and post them to Instagram, Twitter, and other social media with hashtags. They have even imagined hashtags for each painting in the temporary exhibit of Painted Landscapes.

PaintedLandscapessignartHeritageMuseumSandwichMA26April2017

I rarely use my phone to take photos, so didn’t post to Instagram (whose requirement is to use the phone app to post; no posting from a computer or laptop allowed) but I took plenty of photos to post here, of the art and the gardens.

Trees and Landscapes

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white star magnolia in bloom
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white star magnolia flowers
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white star magnolia blooming, woman in Adirondack chair
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pink magnolia bloom
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Sargent cherry tree
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Sargent cherry blooms

“What a strange thing! To be alive beneath cherry blossoms.” — Kobayashi Issa

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spruce tree with small red and purple cones
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close-up of spruce cones
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heather garden with Alberta spruce et al.
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sign for the Dragon Spruce tree
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the Dragon Spruce itself
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umbrella pine and another conifer in front
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pathway in Dexter rhododendron garden
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lawn and tree canopies
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Korean Stewartia’s wrinkled trunk — like elephant legs
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Stewartia tree
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vista with trees
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tree house from museum
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beech trees by river
labyrinthpathstreesHeritageGardensSandwichMA26April2017
labyrinth with labelled trees all around it
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assorted trees
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trees!
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the windmill garden
windmilllawnHeritageGardensSandwichMA26April2017
windmill garden and lawn

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Landscape Art (look for the imagined hashtags on the labels). “Painted Landscapes: Contemporary Views” is on display until 9 October.

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I like this photo of artist Terrell James with her dogs

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Special Exhibition Gallery building

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Bulbs & Annuals

daffodilsHeritageGardensSandwichMA26April2017
daffodils
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sea of muscari
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sea of muscari
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sea of muscari
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tulip
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narcissi
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close-up of narcissus
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pansies and flume fountain

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Heaths 

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‘Kramer’s Rote’ heath
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‘Golden Starlett’ heath
PirbrightRoseheathHeritageGardenSandwichMA26April2017
‘Pirbright Rose’ heath
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‘Westwood Yellow’ chartreuse heath
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a grass flowering near the heaths and heathers

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Spring Perennials and Shrubs — I have no idea which are actually azaleas and which are rhododendrons, but they are closely related and I just went on feeling when labeling them

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Brunnera blooming
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Bergenia blooming
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Bergenia blooming
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pink azalea/rhodo
pierisJaponicabloomingwhiteHeritageGardensSandwichMA26April2017
Pieris japonica blooming
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Pieris japonica flowers
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pink Dicentra
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pink Dicentra flowers
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pink Dicentra flowers, close
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Sargent’s barberry (Berberis sargentiana) flowering
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Sargent’s barberry (Berberis sargentiana)  flowering
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Sargent’s barberry (Berberis sargentiana) flowers and toothy leaves
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Sargent’s barberry (Berberis sargentiana) flowers close
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white Dicentra (bleeding heart)
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white rhododendron blooms
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pink rhododendron blooms
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purple azalea
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pink azalea bloom
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pink rhododendron in bloom
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pink rhododendron flowers
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white magnolia shrub
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maze with white climbing hydrangea … it will look amazing in summer!

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Woodland Plants and Creatures

pachysandraspurgebloomingHeritageGardensSandwichMA26April2017
pachysandra near labyrinth
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pachysandra flower
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myrtle/vinca/periwinkle flower
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very green moss
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trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) blooming
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trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) blooms
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skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum sp.) near river
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skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), closer
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Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica, aka Reynoutria japonica) – very invasive
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red squirrel eating
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turkey running … not exactly in the woodland here but we saw it in the woods as well

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Pool, Waterfall, and Creatures Therein

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pool, waterfall, daffs … saw a groundhog on the slope above this but s/he was too quick for me
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waterfall, pool
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large green frog along pool
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waterfall
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two painted turtles on rock in pool
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painted turtle in pool
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water falling

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Final bits of art

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1908 carousel
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1908 carousel lion and ostrich
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1908 carousel in motion with people riding

I just loved this painting, “Still Life with Squirrel”! I think it’s the pointy ears.

StillLifewithSquirrelpaintingHeritageMuseumSandwichMACC30April2017signStillLifewithSquirrelpaintingHeritageMuseumSandwichMACC30April2017

A windmill is art, right?

windmillgardenHeritageGardenSandwichMACC30April2017

And this weathered wooden bench near the maze:

woodenbenchpatioclimbingvinemazeartsyHeritageGardenSandwichMACC30April2017

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Visit Heritage Museums & Gardens if you’re in the area. The Rhododendron Festival is coming right up.

entranceflagshopgardenHeritageGardensSandwichMA26April2017

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