Mini trains and Gardens

The glass blowing took place at Jewell Gardens in Skagway. The gardens started during the Klondike gold rush by a farmer from Wisconsin. He saw that the miners were in need of fresh fruit as scurvy was rampant. Instead of going to the gold fields, he put together a garden plot and planted lots and lots of rhubarb, which is easy to grow and full of vitamins. He made sure the miners had fresh stalks of rhubarb in their supply kits to stay healthy. Since the sun shines 15-18 hours a day in the summer, the rhubarb grew quickly and the leaves were 18-20 inches across! As you know the leaves are poisonous, but the sturdy stalks are not. Our farmer was able to feed the miners making him more gold than if he had gone to the fields. 

Today the same farm is growing vegetables and flowers. The centerpiece of the garden is a model of the White Horse and Yukon Narrow Guage Railroad complete with mini-villages, waterfalls, trestles and mountains. 

Then there are the flowers...columbines, poppies,

 huge vegetables, like this cabbage that was 20+ inches across

                               

and the super tall tulips with 4 inch blooms. 

Some things grow very big in the Alaska summer. 

To give you an idea about the sunlight, I took the next picture at 10:45 PM.