childhood gardens

it's been over 20 years since i visited the jasmine hill.  it's a private place, owned by private family for many years but is now a non-profit organization.  it's only open march through may and then on certain weekends (i never knew when they were and the website is not updated often)  i wanted to make it a point to visit this year before it closed for the summer. 

i missed most of the azaleas and what was left were pretty beat up by the storms yesterday.  but today bloomed bright and beautiful.  almost everyone there were armed with cameras - though it was not a lot of people - so, at certain times, it was like being alone with the gardens. 

i learned this about ancient greece during my visit today:  they didn't wear many clothes, they liked to wrestle with other dudes, that maybe it was quite cold back then as a shrinkage factor seemed to be going on, and they were rather fond of lions. 

i have over 180 shots to go through, these are my favorites so far.