Saturday 29 April 2017

Glasgow's Botanic Gardens and Spring Flower Gallery.

                                               ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN
A spring visit to the Botanic Gardens and Glasgow's West End- since the 1800s the poshest part of the city with numerous examples of grand period architecture, often based on earlier classical Greek and Roman  styles. The parks of the west end also have the most colour in late spring so I always try to visit, especially when the tulips and rhododendrons are in full bloom. The above photo is near the entrance at the junction of Great Western Road (a busy duel carriageway that doubles as a fine unofficial linear park in itself with several miles of colourful trees and flowers planted along its length) and Byres Road- a trendy shopping street running through the university district from working class Partick to upmarket Dowanhill and Kelvinbridge. (you can feel incomes rise accordingly as you walk up this street from dowdy Kelvinhall Subway Station to Great Western Road with its grand period mansions and prestigious hotels.
The Botanics of course are famous for the range of Glasshouses and Hothouses, pleasantly warm in winter and sometimes steaming and uncomfortably tropical during rare and sporadic heatwaves.
The range of colours here are always vibrant year round but in spring it's a kaleidoscope inside and outside.
Inside a hot house.
Glasshouse and spring sunshine.
Kibble Palace inside. This large glasshouse used to stand in a very remote spot attached to a large private house situated among the rugged mountains of the North Clyde Estuary. It was later handed over to the growing city and transported here which was lucky as no trace of the original house remains.
The view that awaits visitors to the Kibble Palace. Bard in the Botanics was a popular summer
entertainment for a while here.
The full building.
The Elf.
My favourite. The carnivorous plants section at the Botanics.
Insect devouring Sundews can be found in the Scottish Highlands of course with poor soils demanding extra nutrients from unlikely sources.
Going in is far easier than getting out in this kingdom of greedy plant mouths.
The former Hillhead Salon Picture House. Taken when it was a bookclub just off Byres Road.
Across the street from the Botanic Gardens at the top of Byres Road stands the Oran Mor- a former church converted into an entertainment venue with performing plays, bars and live music inside. Seen several bands here in the past but not been in for anything else as my social life does not involve much outlay of money sadly :o(   Sniff, sniff, wah!.
A sneak peek at the interior entrance hall. I know acclaimed artist and writer Alasdair Gray completed a large ceiling mural in this building but I'm not sure if this is his work as well.
Link here to the beautiful ceiling mural and brief history. (Now discovered it is his work from his own painting gallery inside this link. Worth a look.)
http://oran-mor.co.uk/history/alasdair-gray/
The Oran Mor Church and outside Botanics pond reflections.
Period elegance.
Flowers that resemble cranes.
Assorted bluebells.
The far end of the Botanic Gardens park lands near Kirklee.
Period tenements beside the old BBC HQ, now relocated into new accommodation beside the Science Centre close to Prince's Dock on the River Clyde.
Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, being the other jewel in Glasgow's West End crown along with Kelvingrove Park and the River Kelvin- Glasgow's other major river flowing through the inner city districts.
A lush beauty spot near the city centre district.

As is this... believe it or not I put a lot of thought into matching up videos to posts and this just seems to fit somehow as the Botanic Gardens are twinned with Oceania. Suitably exotic, tropical...and expensive looking. Could easily be a grand mansion in the West End- apart from the outdoor swimming pool that is :o)  I heard a small snippet of this catchy and unusual song on a recent TV advert several times and was interested enough to discover and hear the full version.













18 comments:

Linda said...

Wow, gorgeous photos! What a beautiful place!!! If you ever get to come here to Montreal, I highly recommend you visit a town called Westmount. It is a very expensive place to live, but there are many beautiful things to be found there...and one of those things is an indoor greenhouse with gorgeous plants and flowers. It is free to visit.

Anabel Marsh said...

Beautiful pictures of a place I know well. We live close by so I'm able to walk through it regularly,

Kay G. said...

Love the flowers, I would very much enjoy the gardens.
I had to look it up to see if the church still existed (the one that is now an entertainment center) and it is, they are in another building and it is the Kelvinside Parish Church. It also looks like a beautiful building.

Linda W. said...

The flowers are breathtaking! I just love it when everything's blooming in the spring.

Rosemary said...

It was a treat to see your photos of the Botanic Gardens and the surrounding area - I lived in Hyndland Road many, many years ago.

blueskyscotland said...

Thank you Linda.
Sounds good but getting in free doesn't have the same appeal for me if I have fly across an ocean first... but I'll bear it in mind if I visit Canada anytime :o)

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Anabel,
Yes, the West End has a lot going for it. I used to like the West End Festival Parade down Byres Road every year.

blueskyscotland said...

Cheers Kay,
I never thought about where the congregation would go as there are so many churches in Glasgow that are either lying abandoned or have been turned into something else- like a climbing centre, in the ones I used to visit.

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Linda W,
Yes, you can't beat spring for a riot of colour.

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Rosemary,
I've got another post to come in that general area but I may mix it up a little with something else.

Anonymous said...

Some beautiful photos there of some gorgeous flowers. I've got an unidentified bush outside my new house which I'm hoping is a fuchsia!
Carol
9th attempt to comment so far :-(

Ian Johnston said...

What a great post Bob, a real riot of colour!

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Carol,
I can change it to numbers if that's any easier? I normally get in under 3 attempts when I forget to sign in first so I don't know why it's so hard at letting you in. I'll have a look at changing it to something else if I can. It's yahoo verifications that do my head in at the moment- always quizzing me every 3rd or 4th time I sign in then rejecting the codes.
Hope you like your new house. My fuchsia flowers in late summer but last into November still flowering until hard frosts come in.

blueskyscotland said...

Cheers Ian.

Carol said...

I have the most trouble with Kaptcha when it asks me to click on all squares with a roadsign - those never let me through no matter how many I click on - I just get another example. I seem to do better with mountains, lakes or store fronts.

I just start again with Yahoo from the point at where I typed in www.yahoo.co.uk - I never have my mobile with me or switched on to pick up the codes they try to send and I don't think they should have turned on 2 stage verification without asking me!

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Carol,
The trick with the road signs is to also click on the squares with poles holding up the road signs as well as the sign itself but maybe you know that already. It's getting to the stage where you have to answer so many daft security questions for every transaction online it takes the fun out of it. I've got a note book half full of different security codes, passwords and answers as I could never remember them all otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Really like that last image with park benches in the background. Blogger doesn't like my Wordpress ID very much, especially if I'm still signed into my Google account as well. Always had issues commenting but your site seems easier than most

blueskyscotland said...

Cheers Andy,
that's good to know as I'm usually a dunce at the technical side of blogging solutions. My first Kindle book nearly done my head in learning all the hoops to jump through to get it looking right in that format then altering it again for self publishing in printed form. As usual, once you do learn the rules of presentation it seems fairly easy afterwards.