Our National Record

Canada has achieved more medals in this Winter Olympics than any previous ones.  Norway will likely  match the record 14 gold medals that Canada had in Vancouver.  Remarkable achievements. What caught my attention is the upcoming event with the name "Big Air".   It is making its debut this year.  It is considered an extreme sport.  On the bottom of the snowboards are names such as Burton.  I found an article that helped with understanding all these names.  It has to do with the Olympic brand police.   "Snowboard manufacturers Burton, GNU, Salomon and StepChild have seen their names plastered on nearly every high-flying snowboard at this year’s game, despite Rule 50, which says that gear brands can be represented, but only by a 10 percent surface presence on gear or apparel. But watch any of the popular snowboarding events, and you’ll see that the 10 percent rule has gone out the window. Instead, brand names are slapped across the bottom of boards in bright, bold colors, screaming for attention." Logos get 'taped over' by the Olympic brand police. Reports claimed that Samsung, an official sponsor, asked athletes to cover up their Apple logo on their phones. Duct tape is the common tool for this.  A Handyman's special tool, used frequently by Red Green. The real excitement over the brand police was in 2012 in London.  London went extreme to protect its investment, with 300 'enforcement officers' working to ensure firms were not staging 'ambush marketing' or illegally associating themselves with the Olympic Games.  They went into shops and offices near Olympic sites, and could give fines up to $31,000 for misuse of words such as gold, silver, bronze, summer, sponsors, and London.   We think of the commercial side of the Olympics as relatively recent - since television perhaps.  However, even the first Olympics in London in 1908 had sponsors.  Oxo refreshments were handed out to the marathon competitors along the route of the race.   Save the Date:  I will be at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington on Sunday, April 8th in the afternoon.  The speaking topic is The Romantic Garden.  This is a free event, so please consider coming.  It is one of the all-time favourite garden topics.   Let me know if you can make it - we can get together for lunch in the cafe, and then on to the meeting.

More Romance in the Garden

Here are a few more images of what to expect in a Romantic Garden.  These are from Filoli, just south of San Francisco, inland from Half Moon Bay.

Romance is a Feeling - Exploring Romantic Gardens

With my interest in gardens and all the garden pictures that I have, I've started doing presentations to garden speaking to garden clubs and horticultural societies.  The first is "From Snapshot to Great Shot - Explorations in Flower and Garden Photography".  The second is "Exploring Great Public Gardens of North America in Search of Magic and Mystery".  The third one is "The Romantic Garden is Alive in Great Public Gardens of North America". 

I just completed this last presentation for the Master Gardens of Niagara.  A lengthier version will be developed for the Toronto Botanical Gardens (TBG) Seminar series in February near Valentine's Day.  This longer version will delve into the romantic flowers as well as romantic garden design and elements.  

Certainly the romantic flowers are well known - we would all guess roses at the top of the list, and then there are daisies, irises, lilies, carnations, lilacs, wildflowers and sunflowers.  I would add the draping flowers like wisteria, laburnum, and jasmine.  Of course who would resist a field of lavender.

So today's image celebrates the romantic garden element of the bench on the path, draped in the soft colours of a romantic rose on a trellis.  This is at Filoli, a great historic house and public garden, just south of San Francisco.  I consider it one of the great Romantic Gardens of North America.