Why Retire in the Philippines/Marinduque Vacations: The Three Most Beautiful Gardens that Macrine and I Had Visited

Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Thursday, September 10, 2020

The Three Most Beautiful Gardens that Macrine and I Had Visited

The other day I just finished my 6-part series on Coping with Grief: Today, I decided to write on a subject that Macrine and I enjoyed-Gardens. Macrine and I had visited several gardens in US and in the Philippines. But today's article is devoted to the three most beautiful gardens that we have visited in US and Canada.

Macrine and I visited Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC, Canada, in 2005

The Buchart Garden (Macrine reading garden sign-left on bottom of picture)

So it is time for a virtual tour of the three most beautiful gardens that Macrine and I had visited several years ago.

Perhaps in the near future when this Covid-19 is controlled you may be able to visit in person the following three gardens as follows: Buchart ( Victoria, British Columbia), Filoli ( Woodside, CA) and Longwood Gardens( Kenneth Square, PA-suburb of Philadelphia).

Macrine and I have visited Longwood Gardens twice but visited the other two only once. The gardens looked different during the various seasons, but for us spring time was our favorite season. It is the time when the gardens are most colorful.

The following are some of the photos I took of the three gardens. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we did.

Buchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

https://www.butchartgardens.com/
Filoli Sunken Gardens, Woodside, CA

https://filoli.org/

Longwood Gardens, Kenneth Square, PA

https://longwoodgardens.org/

Honorable Mention: Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, Maryland

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g41434-d536488-Reviews-Brookside_Gardens-Wheaton_Montgomery_County_Maryland.html

Meanwhile enjoy this short video -Carlos Avila in the Piano( Macrine's nephew).

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Fruit Trees in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

The Mango Tree-I have three varieties in my Garden-The Indian, Guimaras and Carabao Mangoes My caretaker/gardener informed me last month that due to the El Nino drought in Marinduque, two of my Durian trees died in spite of his vigilant watering. One of the tree was attacked by insects that looks like a big fly but yellowish in color that sucks the sap of the seedling. The roots of the other tree was attacked by ants residing in the soil. However, my other fruit trees, the rambutans( 2), the lanzones(2) and the jack fruits ( 2) trees are doing well. The above eight fruit trees were given to me by Retired General Recaredo Sarmiento of Boac and Lucena., about three years ago. General Sarmiento is the “atid” of my wife. “Atid” is the colloquial term for brother. Evidently, Macrine's father, the late Bernardo Jambalos was the Godfather of General Sarmiento during his baptism and comfirmation. Gen Sarmiento's hobby is orchard planting, reforestation and farming. The other fruit trees in my garden are guayabanos, cashew, avocados, starapples, duhats, ates, guavas, mangoes( 3 varieties) and papayas as well as several varieties of bananas . Of the above fruit trees, my favorite is the guayabanos, also known as soursop tree known for its anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties . The following are photos of the fruit trees. The Durian photo is from the web. Note that it almost look like a jack fruit tree, except that the leaves are bigger and shiny. My desire is to have a passion fruit tree in the near future. You are welcome to visit my orchard and flower gardens any time, if perchance you are in the vicinity of The Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center.

The Rambutan Tree and Fruits

The Lanzone Tree and Fruits

The Jack Fruit Tree

The Durian Fruit Tree