Sara P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina

This morning, we visited the Sara. P. Duke Botanical Gardens in Durham, North Carolina. 

Even though I've been to Duke University a few times, I have never been to the gardens. They are LOVELY and combined with the morning birdsong, dew, sunbeams, and quiet, it was a real treat. Here are a few photos :-)

"The Big Easy" - sculpture by Patrick Dougherty

"I Love a Tree" by Samuel N. Baxter

I LOVE A TREE

When I pass to my reward.

Whatever that may be,

I'd like my friends to think of me

As one who loved a tree.

I may not have a statesman's poise

Nor thrill a throng with speech

But I may benefit mankind

If I set out a beech.

If I transport a sapling oak 

To rear its mighty head

Twill make for them a childhood shrine, 

That will not soon decay.

Of if I plant a tree with fruit,

On which the birds may feed,

Then I have fostered feathered friends

And that's a worthy deed.

For winter when the days grow short

And spirits may run low

I'd plant a pine upon the scape

T'would lend a cheery glow.

I'd like a tree to mark the spot

Where I am laid to rest

For that would be the epitaph

That I would like the best.

Tho it's not carved upon a stone

For those who come to see

But friends would know that resting there 

Is he, who loved a tree

-- Samuel N. Baxter (1872-1935)

Sabal Palmetto in Charleston, SC on The Battery

As for me, I would like a Sabal Palmetto over my grave site, please. It must be a Sabal palmetto and not the Sabal "lisa" palmetto. A small stone and a tree and some daffodils all around it. 

Sabal Palmetto in Charleston, SC on the Battery