We’ve had fabulous weather for a change (21C) and I spent the majority of the weekend outdoors. Eagle, our tween, was with me on three of the four garden days. They took mounds of photos. I’ll cull them to show you the two best from each. I was allowed to use my camera a couple of times also, wink.
A good friend and I went for a walk in the Arboretum. The prairie was spectacular with flowers of multiple shades.
The same friend, Eagle and I went on the Olbrich Garden Tour, this year of local yards on the west side of town. We saw new species and wonderful arrangements of plants, paths, rocks, trees…
The first house had the best kid-friendly feature, as seen in Eagle’s photo. Is this a hint?
The second house had the largest home on the largest lot (3.9 acres = around 16,000 square meters). The trees were beautiful, but it featured too much grass and hostas for my tastes. For that one, I have no photos to share. House three of the garden tour was one of our favorites. The couple had done all the work themselves and created a truly beautiful and cozy back yard with a fish pond.
Eagle and I continued the tour Saturday. Fourth house was up on a hill and was decorated with many sculptures.
Here is the door to the fifth garden. I’m smiling in this photo Eagle took and my smile just got bigger after visiting this amazing garden designed by the resident landscape architect. This was one of the smallest yards (.17 acre = 688 Square Meters), turned paradise.
Rebecca enters a garden Photo: Eagle
What features do you value in green space?
Tune in for Part II on Thursday to see more fabulous gardens and learn the 5 Lessons the Garden Tour taught us. ¡Olé! –Rebecca
Fake Flamenco 
Thanks, Rebecca, I loved seeing your photos to start my day. I particularly like the trellis (somehow very Victorian in feel) and the Japanese garden.
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Thanks, Susan. Glad you liked the photos. Yes, I thought the trellis looked Victorian as well, almost steam punk. The Japanese garden was our hands down favorite.
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Beautiful photos of the gardens visited. The “Lucifer” Crocosmia flower is quite exotic.
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Thank you, Rosaliene. I found it exotic too. I hadn’t seen one before. I found out they are a native to South Africa.
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Beautiful! I wish I’d known of this west side garden tour. I gotta pay more attention to what’s going on around here. 🙂
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Thanks for your comment, Deb! I think you’d love it. The Olbrich gardens organize a tour every summer (except last year). The wildflowers at the Arboretum are spectacular right now too.
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Great that you got to see all of the gardens. The Japanese one really was amazing!!
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Thanks for commenting, Carolyn. It was fun to see the first three with you on Friday. Did you get to one or two more after our lunch?
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Rebecca thanks for sharing your experience. those are some really nice photos. I love the Ceramic Water feature. I look forward to the five lessons learned!
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Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your kind words. Yes, more photos and the lessons to come!
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you are welcome!
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It appears that you had a wonderful day. Thank you for sharing the beauty of it with us. 🌞
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Thanks, Michele. I do like to be surrounded by flowers in lovingly cared for gardens.
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Thanks for the lovely tour, Rebecca. I love the idea and look of a prairie garden…Guess I’ll have to settle for a meadow where I live. 🌼
Oh boy, I’m all in on that magnificent treehouse! That would be the life!
Glad you got a chance to enjoy that tour. Wishing you more great Summer days.
Best,
Julie
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Hi Julie, thanks for your comments. You have a beautiful garden. Yes, I found the tree house very fun. Thanks, hope you have great summer days too.
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Oh, my goodness! WHAT a treat!
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Thank you very much! Hope you like P.2 as well. : )
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such beautiful gardens! I’m jealous, wish I could’ve toured them with you! Xx
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It was inspiring. Some day I’d like my garden to be worth a tour. I learned a lot about how to arrange plants from what I saw. Right now I have a lot of tall and not much medium and short plants.
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