Wednesday, June 22, 2011

rambling through Ryder Lake...

We have a wonderful garden tour in our community in June of each year...sponsored by one of the local rotary clubs.  My sisters and I reserve the date on the calendar well in advance...and spend the day meandering about in the most beautiful local gardens.  That is coming up on the weekend...and I was quite disappointed when I realized I had a conflict this year...and would not be taking in the garden tour.

But the community of Ryder Lake has their own little garden tour in June...and that took place just recently...and so I talked hubby into joining me on the Ryder Lake Ramble this year. 


Ryder Lake is a sub-alpine hamlet in the foothills of the Pacific Mountain Range...and just a ten or fifteen minute drive from our farm.  Our heifers know it well...since we send them to pasture (summer camp) in the Ryder Lake area for the summer months.  It is a community of small and medium family-owned farms...


...surrounded by beautiful mountains.  We toured on a cloudy day (as most days have been here this spring)...and so the peaks were shrouded in the mist.


Since this area is at quite a high elevation...spring comes a little later than on the valley floor.  The lilacs were in full, fragrant bloom!


We quite enjoyed strolling through the gardens of the homesteads situated in the valley bowl. 


Some had many acres of gardens...and kilometers of woodland trails.  And these are gardens of retired folk.  I don't think they are finding retirement one bit boring!

For years I had heard of a plantation of Siberian irises up in these hills...and was delighted to find the iris garden on the tour.


We strolled through old growth forest to the secluded plantation...which features irises in every colour of the rainbow.  So they say!


Because we have just had the coldest spring on record over here...and because Ryder Lake is at a higher elevation...the irises were just beginning to wake up to spring.  The little bit of blue poking out above...was about all the colour we saw.  But we met the colourful gardener...who was a pleasure to chat with!


He retired twelve years ago...to a life of farming flowers up in the hills.  It is far removed from his career in the medical profession...and he loves every minute of it.  He seems to have found a way to do all the work from his tractor seat...and that to him is bliss!


We enjoyed our ramble through Ryder Lake...where their theme is 'a community worth caring for is a community worth sharing'.   So true!

13 comments:

  1. How idyllic! Looks so serene and beautiful. I'm gonna have to get out my thesaurus the next time I comment on your blog. I keep using the same words over and need some new ones besides beautiful, fantastic, awesome, gorgeous... (laughed at the cows getting to go to summer camp!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an interesting and lovely tour Judy! You do them so well. I feel like I was right there with you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whether it's a stroll through the gardens, or a bike trip down the Vedder, or a hike up to Lindeman Lake, we are forever noticing God's magnificent playground right here in our own area.
    That's the best therapy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How very lovely! There's so much to enjoy in our own backyards!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ryder Lake looks very peaceful, and it must have been nice to experience a second Spring. Gardening is a fruitful hobby to have when one is retired!

    ReplyDelete
  6. BEAUTIFUL TO SEE!!!!
    God bless,
    d

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely photo's of beautiful gardens. You certainly live in a very pretty part of the world

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful scenery! Your grandson must be thrilled to have a lake named after him (or was he named after the lake? : )

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's a shame that you have to miss the garden tour with your sisters, but this one looks like a very nice one too. Everything looks so lush and beautiful.
    I enjoy garden walks. In fact I'm going on one Saturday. It's so inspiring to see all the beauty of the gardens and also a bonus to be able to talk with the gardeners.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my, what wonderful gardens and views, and setting. You live in an idyllic area.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow! What a creative God we serve! It certainly was a treat to spend time in these gardens. Thank you for sharing the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My co-worker goes to the Ryder Lake Ramble. One of these years I will have to join her. Glad to see a bit of it here.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a pretty ramble that must have been. I am trying to grow irises this year, and I love that blue!

    ReplyDelete

'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson