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**Wilber Winterbottom** · #1 (**permalink**) 12-27-2022, 12:45 AM

Lying off the path between Hogwarts castle and the Greenhouses lays a quaint little garden for students and staff alike to enjoy. Like many magical things, it seems smaller on the outside than it is on the inside. It's surrounded by yew hedges which stretch all around the boundaries, opening into one arch-like opening in the center of one wall.

Once inside, winding paths will take you through many different habitats containing both local and cultivated plants, each growing in its season. There's the Meadow, with grasses, flowers, and the pollinator garden, which at the right times of the year is filled with butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. The Woodland area has all sorts of raised wooden walkways and platforms which let you reach right up into the shady tree canopies. A boardwalk maze made of split logs threads throughout the Mars, which is filled with its own mysterious plants growing on the shoreline and in the murky water. And then there are the water gardens, with fountains, waterfalls, and several convenient benches in case you get tired.

Among the many small gardens dotted here and there is the Culinary Garden, which is filled with various edible and medicinal plants, each with its own little plaque describing what it is and what it's used for. Don't be afraid to take a sample of something that strikes your fancy--there's nothing dangerous growing here. And then there's the Sensory Garden, with sections of plants designed to tickle your five senses--sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Go ahead and take a sniff, touch a petal, or break off a leaf to taste--that's what this garden is for.

Some grassy, shady areas here and there along the boundary line are just perfect for a rest, a picnic, or to sit and catch up on your reading. Feel free to enjoy this fascinating space in whatever way you wish! (without breaking any school rules, of course).

MadMadamMalfoy · 05-10-2024, 07:41 PM

After exploring the school grounds, Sydney made her way to the discovery garden, Her grayish-blue eyes scanned the area, taking in the vast array of plants and flowers. Were any of them carnivorous? She hoped so, but any plants were good. Where there were plants, there were usually bugs, and bugs were exactly what she was looking for.

She glanced down at Alastor, her own venus fly trap plant safely tucked under her arm. “Let’s see if we can find some yummy bugs for you,” she said to the plant. Yes, she knew Alastor was only a plant and couldn’t really understand her. No, she didn’t care. “But no moths!” The last time Alastor trapped a moth, he got sick!

sweetpinkpixie · 05-14-2024, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

After exploring the school grounds, Sydney made her way to the discovery garden, Her grayish-blue eyes scanned the area, taking in the vast array of plants and flowers. Were any of them carnivorous? She hoped so, but any plants were good. Where there were plants, there were usually bugs, and bugs were exactly what she was looking for.

She glanced down at Alastor, her own venus fly trap plant safely tucked under her arm. “Let’s see if we can find some yummy bugs for you,” she said to the plant. Yes, she knew Alastor was only a plant and couldn’t really understand her. No, she didn’t care. “But no moths!” The last time Alastor trapped a moth, he got sick!

Partly for research partly to appease her own palate, Sage made her way down to the grounds and over to her favorite feature on the grounds. No, that was a bold face lie considering her favorite feature was the climbing tree but taking her current needs into consideration this was her favorite. It wasn't like the climbing tree was sprouting edible flowers, after all.

Keeping a kick drum beat with her lips as she strut along the path, the sixth year reached into her satchel bag for one of the two glass apothecary containers and gingerly slid the top off. Now...where to begin...hmmm...

"Oi, do you happened to know where the honeysuckle and nasturtium are? They seem to have relocated themselves," she asked of a nearby housemate currently hunched over and cradling something or another. Sage was positive it had been a right and two lefts upon entering the garden last term but now instead of some flora there was a thriving patch of various succulents.

MadMadamMalfoy · 05-17-2024, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Partly for research partly to appease her own palate, Sage made her way down to the grounds and over to her favorite feature on the grounds. No, that was a bold face lie considering her favorite feature was the climbing tree but taking her current needs into consideration this was her favorite. It wasn't like the climbing tree was sprouting edible flowers, after all.

Keeping a kick drum beat with her lips as she strut along the path, the sixth year reached into her satchel bag for one of the two glass apothecary containers and gingerly slid the top off. Now...where to begin...hmmm...

"Oi, do you happened to know where the honeysuckle and nasturtium are? They seem to have relocated themselves," she asked of a nearby housemate currently hunched over and cradling something or another. Sage was positive it had been a right and two lefts upon entering the garden last term but now instead of some flora there was a thriving patch of various succulents.

Before Sydney could properly begin her bug hunt, she heard someone approaching. Tucking her venus flytrap safely under her arm, she looked up to see one of her older housemates. Honeysuckle and nasturtium? She knew what both of those looked like; she also knew they both attracted bugs. That sounded like the place she needed to be! Facing the older girl, she shook her head. “I haven’t seen any yet, but now that you mention it, I could use some of those myself. I’ll help you look.”

Could the plants in this garden really relocate themselves? Probably just a figure of speech, but this was Hogwarts after all. It was possible. If it was true, she hoped to learn the spell used to do it. How fun would it be to mess with her sisters’ heads by magically rearranging their room?

Sydney eyed the older girl’s glass container with curiosity. Was she collecting potion ingredients? Possibly clippings for an experiment? Maybe the other girl knew of a use for honeysuckle and nasturtium that Sydney hadn’t considered, and maybe she’d learn it by tagging along.

sweetpinkpixie · 05-21-2024, 05:13 AM

Ugh, great. Though at least her younger housemate knew what Sage was asking about so it wasn't as though the sixth year had wasted any effort thus far. She sure missed Professor Tapio right now...could always trust the man to keep things in a sensible arrangement and keep gnomes and other mobile plants at bay so things remained orderly. "Gutted," she signed and slapped her palms against her thighs twice. "Well, okay then. Let's be off on the search then." She was frustrated but not in her usually menacing way she may come across were she in other certain company (Solomon and Reuben, specifically) and therefore kept the tiniest smile to her features as she pulled out her little pocket notebook to check some notes she had taken earlier in the day.

Photos!: le parchment

Nothing terribly groundbreaking and based more on some hunches she had while browsing some healing journals discussing certain links to breathing and eating, but she was hoping that the right dose of these two particular plants would combine nicely with Adder's Fork. She was still debating on whether she needed to look towards bat spleens, dried nettles, and puffer-fish eyes or shrivelfig, caterpillars and cowbane...but she supposed those decisions would have to come once she entered the experimentation phase. She did see a pattern among potions ingredients of this nature requiring the spleen of some small animal (a bat or a rat) so that was obviously going to be on the table eventually.

"You working on an assignment too or..." she asked while her interest briefly waned from her own parchment to what her younger housemate had in her arms. "...something else entirely?"

MadMadamMalfoy · 06-04-2024, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Ugh, great. Though at least her younger housemate knew what Sage was asking about so it wasn't as though the sixth year had wasted any effort thus far. She sure missed Professor Tapio right now...could always trust the man to keep things in a sensible arrangement and keep gnomes and other mobile plants at bay so things remained orderly. "Gutted," she signed and slapped her palms against her thighs twice. "Well, okay then. Let's be off on the search then." She was frustrated but not in her usually menacing way she may come across were she in other certain company (Solomon and Reuben, specifically) and therefore kept the tiniest smile to her features as she pulled out her little pocket notebook to check some notes she had taken earlier in the day.

Photos!: le parchment

Nothing terribly groundbreaking and based more on some hunches she had while browsing some healing journals discussing certain links to breathing and eating, but she was hoping that the right dose of these two particular plants would combine nicely with Adder's Fork. She was still debating on whether she needed to look towards bat spleens, dried nettles, and puffer-fish eyes or shrivelfig, caterpillars and cowbane...but she supposed those decisions would have to come once she entered the experimentation phase. She did see a pattern among potions ingredients of this nature requiring the spleen of some small animal (a bat or a rat) so that was obviously going to be on the table eventually.

"You working on an assignment too or..." she asked while her interest briefly waned from her own parchment to what her younger housemate had in her arms. "...something else entirely?"

Sydney followed along, tucking Alastor safely under her arm. She studied her older housemate’s expression intently. Was that a real smile or a “valuable tool” smile? She supposed she’d learn soon enough. She glanced at the parchment, mildly intrigued. “Are you brewing a potion with those two ingredients?”

She shook her head at the question. “No, I just need bugs. More accurately, my plant does,” she replied, proudly holding up the venus flytrap in the red pinstriped pot. The pot even had a cute little bowtie attached to the front. “Honeysuckle and nasturtium attract bugs, so it makes sense to help you find them.” Kill two birds with one stone, as the muggles say…

As Sydney continued along the path, she spotted a familiar-looking plant with yellow flowers and flat, rounded leaves. “Speaking of which, that looks like nasturtium up ahead,” she said, gesturing toward the plant with her free arm.

sweetpinkpixie · 06-14-2024, 02:13 AM

"Yes," she responded with entirely too much confidence for someone who was still researching her options and experimenting with combinations. "Well, there is a high probability that I will." Better to be accurate than keep up certain appearances when it came to such matters. "I've narrowed down options and will be moving into some experimentation soon to see what will combine with what for the best potency." Maybe a little ahead of the schedule set by the professor but the Slytherin was very efficient when she wanted to be. Though the honeysuckle was likely to just be for some flavor enhancement and neutralization so it didn't taste like eating mooncalf dung when added to food and drink.

Sage performed a bit of a double take when the younger snakette mentioned her plant needing bugs and turned her attention to the smartly dressed venus flytrap in her arms - far more interesting than cultivating honling daffodils and other magical yet remarkably mundane plants others tended to favor. "Dionaea muscipula....fascinating," she grinned, pausing her stride to crouch down and inspect the plant more closely. "Well, best not keep this handsome fellow waiting much longer then." Plus she wanted to have plenty of time to collect and peruse the flora before her next appointment.

Following the girl's indication, the pair did indeed happen upon an entire flowerbed of nasturtium. The sixth year considered the blossoms for a moment before moving to the left a bit and plucked a smaller blossom off one of the plants and examined it in her palm for a couple of moments before pulling out her want to cast a very light Aguamenti upon it for a light rinse. "I think if you set him down around here," she gestured vaguely in front of the flowerbed. "Bugs ought to be coming along soon enough...these flowers are particularly potent in smell, must be some good soil, and..." She popped the small flower into her mouth and thoughtfully chewed for a few moments. "...the flavor strong as well." Very peppery which meant she was immediately plucking flowers off their stems and slipping them into phials and then the stems into their own separate phials as well. Maybe not the leaves since those tended to be more bitter.

Kimothy · 06-19-2024, 06:06 PM

Astrid Grimaldi would have preferred being able to explore the castle and call each time she spent outside the Slytherin common room an adventure, as such had been how life was for her growing up, but that had been hard to achieve within the boundaries of this school— a fact she knew early on in the start of the term from experience. She'd been in Hogwarts for months now, but she'd never been able to venture out just on her own. She had to always be with a sibling or, if she was lucky to be in their company already, a dorm mate.

Hence, her solo routes were a bit predictable. It wasn't because she didn't want to go anywhere else, but rather it was familiarity of these places so that, on the occasion she needed to escape another group of older students trying to fish information about her siblings from her, she would know how to remove herself. Alone, she'd only go to places she'd already been, whether that was in the dungeons, or the basement, or a classroom, or the music room after so many twists and turns in the moving staircase. Or, like now, the grounds. They were favourable, given its vast space. Lots of room to run. To avoid.

The youngest of the Grimaldis was, however, particularly missing Winnie today, which inspired her choice to surround herself with the flowers in the discovery garden. Winnie had brought her here before the older girl had to leave school, and so Astrid had created some kind of association to the eldest Grimaldi here. Even if she absolutely hated that Winnie left her (and the siblings) behind. While she was mostly a brat about it, there were days when she simply missed Winnie a little extra. Sitting in the middle of the garden, Astrid plucked a flower that was the same colour as the one Winnie had chosen for her before, and twirled it between her fingers.

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