More Gardens in Springtime

 OK, I know, I keep sharing gardens in my part of the world. I am finding gardens is my thing in springtime for sure, but maybe even in other seasons too.  This post is picture heavy, but enjoy!! I certainly enjoyed snapping pictures and enjoying each cloudy, spring day.

Adelman's Peony Gardens was the goal this week. You know I am always up for an adventure.

I did come home with 6 peony buds, which are now in full bloom in my apartment.

They are perfection and don't really look real, but they are.

But, we found a new garden too. My daughter, Jill, took us to one near her house, the Rare Plant Institute. It has a sale one weekend a year in their greenhouses. The parking lot was full of plant lovers and kids too. The kids may not have been as thrilled, but what an amazing adventure to learn in the garden.

There were several ponds at the top of the hill. Whew! I made it up the hill and was greeted with this beauty. Oh how I love calla lilies.

They also had a vineyard and were doing a wine tasting. In the distance you can see the greenhouses and parking lot.

I don't know what this plant is called, but my daughter took a small one home. I will be watching it grow in her garden now. This is the plant she went for. It was quite spectacular. She is creating a pink and black garden in front of her house. How fun and what a combination of colors. 

We were greeted by this sea of rock garden flowers. Oh how I wished I could bring a bunch of them home, but sadly my little patio is already full.

No matter that only one peony bouquet came home with me, it was a delight to my soul.

What is delighting your soul this week?

Sending love,

Marilyn

Mother's Day, Two Celebrations

 Celebrations come in all sorts of forms and desires.

Each Mother's Day since my daughter became a mother I let her choose how we should celebrate. This year she wanted to take a walk at Leach Botanical Garden. It is a historic garden that was once owned by the Leach family and is now a public garden.

We met there on a lovely, perfect weather afternoon and walked through the garden.

Grandson was not particularly thrilled to have his picture taken, smiling!

But the gardens were just gorgeous!

Even though my pictures don't show it, the garden was full of people enjoying Mother's Day in the garden. It truly was a lovely way to celebrate and spend family time.

Then I sort of miss choosing the celebration!

So my "live-in gardener" listened to me saying I would love to go for tea. Since my daughter doesn't like to go to tea, we went today. Just the two of us had our own small celebration. It felt good to make my own desire known and have my "live-in gardener" or should I say husband listen. Sometimes we just need to let our desires known. Thankful he listened.

It was good too. Everything was so fresh and tasty. I really enjoyed every little bite and every little sip of our celebration.

And because we were celebrating Mother's Day I thought it was sweet the tearoom added the Happy Mother's Day sign to the cake, even though it was a day late.

Hoping you all had special celebrations even if it was small or large, a cup of tea or a sip of coffee. Whether celebrating being a momma of kitties or dogs, or even if your child was not able to be with you. You are all worth celebrating.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Season of Gardens

 

This week the weather has been amazing; so spring-like and maybe even a bit of summer. The perfect season to be outdoors and in the garden. Now the first few pictures are in a park about 1.5 miles from my apartment. I probably could have walked there, but didn't want to carry the picnic I had prepared. How wonderful to be outdoors enjoying the day. The river is called the Willamette (an Indian name). The boat is called The Portland Spirit. They do river cruises throughout this season. It is quite beautiful from the water when cruising. They were just turning around when I snapped the picture, heading back to Portland.

In the park I found dogwood and roses. Loving flowers so much, I am always on the look out for them.

Our picnic was of course also tea time. We had egg salad sandwiches, fruit, olives, and macarons. I love the challenge of putting together tea time or a picnic from what is in the cupboard. Sometimes those end up being the best, plus less stress. Just toss things in the basket and off we go.

But now let's get serious about gardening. Ha! Even with just having a patio, my "live-in gardener" and I can't ignore getting a few plants. So off to the Canby Garden Fair we went. There were tons of tomato plants, but we decided it was flowers for us this year.

So many beauties to choose from. We only have a few pots to fill; so we couldn't get much. But enjoying the looking was part of the fun.

Several times I had to stop to smell. These lilacs were amazing.

And then we returned to our little patio garden. A friend gave us this jasmine plant when we moved into the apartment and it has flourished in a pot, climbing up the bird feeder pole. I imagine the birds are enjoying it now too.

I even had my morning tea enjoying our little patio garden.

If you look closely our little table holds the flowers we brought home from the garden show. I can't wait to see them flourish on the patio this summer.

Are you planting a garden? Do the flowers just call to you to take them home when you see them at the garden shop or market? It is hard for me to resist. Now how many pots of flowers will this tiny patio hold?

One more picture just to make you smile. There is one squirrel that likes to visit our patio every few days. He is quite unafraid of people. I think someone must feed him. He will come right up to our window and peak inside to see if we are there. Here he is enjoying our little birdbath. It is hard to keep the birdbath clean, as our neighbors above us also feed the birds and the residue sprinkles down, not that the birds or squirrel mind.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Closed Doors

 We have had some gorgeous spring days lately. The sunshine is amazing! Yesterday I decided I needed to sit in the sun and also the hot tub/spa at my apartment complex. Off I went. There were a few children playing in the pool, but no one in the spa. Happy Day! I set up my chair, took my robe off, and turned on the jets of the spa. Getting ready to step into the warm water I found a sign "Spa Closed".  Now I am not sure why it was closed, but I wasn't going to take my chances. I returned to my chair in the sun and sat there for awhile. In my sitting I noticed the joy of the children playing and teasing each other. I noticed parents and friends enjoying the day in the sun. It was a lovely time to feel the sun on my face and rest. Sometimes doors open in a different direction just because the door you thought you were walking through was closed.

That being said, on Saturday I drove to Elk Rock in Portland. It is less than a 1/2 hour from my apartment and has gorgeous gardens. It is on the grounds of an Episcopalian Retreat Center that overlooks the Willamette River. Many people don't know it is open to the public, as it is tucked in a quiet neighborhood and doesn't have markers to find it. You have to know it is there.

I wanted to go see the wisteria, as I knew it would be in bloom.

I drove up to the property, the gate was open; so I drove inside and parked in the visitor parking lot. There was one other car there, but I didn't see anyone. I got out and enjoyed the wisteria immensely. It was the best I had ever seen of it in all the years I have tried to capture it. It amazed me that no one else was there enjoying it. It felt like I had the place to myself in my own "secret garden". 

After enjoying the wisteria, I walked on through the grounds snapping pictures as I went.

Still I saw no one.

The sun was glorious.

The flowers gorgeous.

Ahhh! Another wisteria! I had forgotten there was a white one on the walking bridge.

One trillium hiding under the flowering bush.

The view of Mt. Hood and the river was spectacular!!!

It was a glorious walk. I enjoyed every minute.

Returning to my car I proceeded to leave.

No, I never saw a person in the garden.

As I drove out to leave I realized the gate was now closed, strange!

It automatically opened to let me leave and then closed behind me.

As I looked back I saw the sign, "Closed on Saturday and Sunday".

Did they close the garden just so I could enjoy it by myself?

Laughing with flowers I thoroughly enjoyed.

I guess I was trespassing, but then I had a delightful time in the garden.

My own "secret garden" just for me.

Sending love,

Marilyn