Rose bowers are the most striking features in this section of the gardens. As impressive supports for climbing roses they are similar to the famous bougainvillea bowers at The Getty Center gardens in Los Angeles.
Imagine how beautiful when the roses are in full bloom. Or imagine they brought space aliens to earth to enjoy all this rosey goodness. Those are Texas Bluebonnets at their feet.
No surprise to see plenty of roses available for purchase like these edging the lawn.
This gentleman provides perspective.
Wedding guests enter the gardens directly from the parking lot to avoid the sales area.
The Chapel was built on site in typical local style. For beautiful photos of weddings at The Antique Rose Emporium during peak rose season check out this link.
Although set in a turf grass lawn you can see a hint of the prairie terrain.
We wander back through the gardens
The plant selection is quite different here so I was disappointed to find few native perennials and even fewer ornamental grasses on offer as compared to the now-closed San Antonio location. I did purchase a Digiplexis which seems to do okay in our summer heat, an echeverria featured in a previous post, and a Mexican Beautyberry which I'll show when it produces berries.
Around the base of the windmill.
Back in the parking lot and another view of the chapel with our Texas Bluebonnets blooming in front.
On the way out I spotted more rose bowers on the lawn behind the sales office that I had missed earlier.
We'll need to return during Fall Festival of Roses in November to see all of this at peak season. Next up is a tour of Peckerwood Garden in nearby Hempstead.
Those rose bowers are so striking! Very similar indeed to the ones at Getty Museum which is also perhaps the inspiration for the massive ones at Singapore's Gardens by the Bay.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had seen these somewhere else and it was on your Singapore posts! Brenham is only a fraction the size of those cities so it's especially fun to see the bowers sitting out on the prairie near a small town in Texas.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a beautiful place to have a wedding - I loved the arbors approaching the gazebo. And I like the Getty-like supports with roses better than those here with the bougainvillea.
ReplyDeleteI did wonder about that Kris, it does seem that roses are a natural choice for these.
DeleteThose rose supports look very much like some in the gardens of the Getty Museum. They're pretty great.
ReplyDeleteRoses or bougies either one - those bowers are great. Such a striking juxtaposition between modernism and tradition. If one of those mysteriously appeared here I'd know just what to do with it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the extended tour, ma'am! It was especially interesting to hear your comparison between the two sites, though very sad one is closed now. It seems to happen all too regularly lately - a nursery closes and an entire area loses a great source for plants and gardening supplies. I don't like it!
The rose bowers are really nice even without blooms or mature plants...very alien! The prairie landscape there does set a tone, as did the woodland / upland prairie brush of the former SA location I got to see a decade ago. I wonder if that plus time period, is the reason for less natives in Brenham. (?)
ReplyDeleteLucky you to visit as this is quite a beautiful spot in these photos...I can see why people want their weddings here.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place, I can imagine it being popular with weddings with those arches and that pretty chapel. I clicked on the link and saw the wedding photos, really beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice wedding venue. The rose bowers are way cool but they sort of jump out as alien against the rest of the traditional setting.
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