28 September 2022 - STUNNING GOLDEN ARCH IN WALES

 

STUNNING GOLDEN 

ARCH IN WALES 

G'day folks,

Welcome to a breathtaking flower tunnel that bursts with beautiful golden blossoms in Wales.

Every spring, this mesmerizing flower arch blooms within a Welsh botanic garden. Golden flowers burst from the branches of the laburnum tree, draping downward to creating a tunnel capped by a lush ceiling of blossoms.

The breathtaking 180-foot-long archway is said to be the longest in the United Kingdom. It was planned by Henry Davis Pochin, the man who created the Bodnant Garden in 1875, and has been enchanting those who pass beneath the ceiling of dangling flowers ever since.

 

The delicate blossoms are a welcome pop of color to counteract Wales’ often wet, dreary weather. When the tree blooms, its flowers cascade down from the branches like delicate pearls, earning them the nickname “Golden Rain.” Its fallen petals pepper the floor to create a walkway dotted with bright, sunshine-colored spots.

The Laburnum Arch is a fleeting phenomenon. It only lasts for a few weeks, usually in late May or early June. Predicting when exactly the archway will bloom is tricky, as the tree can be a bit finicky depending on the mildness of the winter. But even when not in bloom, the tree’s verdant leaves still create an enticing botanic tunnel. Walking beneath the thick mass of greenery feels like wandering within a fairytale forest.

 

 

22 July 2022 - GORGEOUS WYSTERIA TUNNEL - JAPAN

 

GORGEOUS WYSTERIA 

TUNNEL 

- JAPAN  -

G'day folks,

Welcome to an exquisite tunnel of cascading flowers.

 It’s practically impossible to walk through the pastel-colored passageway of wisteria flowers at the Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu without imagining an elegant fairy princess and her one-horned white steed prancing alongside you. 

 

A member of the pea family, wisteria is an ornamental vine, wildly popular in both Eastern and Western gardens for its graceful hanging flowers and its ornate, winding branches. Easily trained, the woody vines tend to reach maturity within a few years, at which point they bloom in cascades of long, lavender flowers of varying pastel shades. There are about 150 flowering wisteria plants of roughly 20 species that create this famous colorful flower tunnel.

Make sure to visit in late April or Early May, during the “Fuji Matsuri,” or “Wisteria Festival,” when the magical tunnel is in full bloom. Because many visitors come to the gardens during the blooming season, you need to book your time slot in advance.

Arrive at any other time of year, and its appearance will be a disheartening mass of lifeless, twisted branches.

 

1 April 2022 - TOUR ISABELLE DOUBLE ARCH - FRANCE

 

TOUR ISABELLE 

DOUBLE ARCH

 - FRANCE -

 

G'day folks, 

This stunning natural double arch, the largest in the Alps, went undiscovered until 2005. 

French mountaineer Pascal Sombardier knew his high-altitude neck of the Alps well. Or so he thought. In 2005, when he was out on a hike in the Grand Manti section of the Chartreuse mountain range, researching locales for a book on unique destinations in the area, he was stunned when he spotted what looked like a giant double arch.

Sombardier took some photographs and shared them with the mountaineering community to learn more about this formation. Nobody had ever recorded it before, and through his discovery the world came to know of the existence of the natural wonder, dubbed the Tour Percée double arch. 

 

Spanning 105 feet, the huge natural arch, also called Tour Percée, is the largest in the Alps, but it remained largely hidden because of its geography. There were no paths leading up to the base of the arch, and the structure itself lies within a bowl, making it invisible from below. While viewing it from the air, people often spotted the tower but the arch itself was out of sight.

Even though it’s been over a decade since it was first spotted, it is still largely off the grid and extremely difficult to access. Of course, Sombardier included the arch and the story behind its discovery in his book, with one of his photos of the arch splashed across the book cover. 

Clancy's comment: The entire area looks magnificent. The wonders of nature, eh?

I'm ...