Part 2 of My BF's Beautiful Garden!

I promised you part two of my best friends beautiful place and I am delivering!

The first photo is at the entrance to her fabulous and totally weed free garden!
I don't know how she does it!
I would need a full time gardener and then some.
She is a Master Gardener though so maybe she has a secret??

OH, PEGGY??

Once again, sit back with a cup of coffee or lemonade and enjoy the pics!

Her hubby builds all her fences, arbors etc. Don't they look amazing?

I have decided that I want to be like her when I grow up!!
Don't you??!! ...SIGH

She found this wheelbarrow at a huge show that we went to in the Spring and it
fits in just perfectly. She does actually use it so she must not have a gardener?! 

She comes up with the neatest ideas to keep critters away.
I don't have a garden that we actually eat food from. Mine is just flowers
so I admire her so much!!

LOVELY place that needs to be photographed for a magazine!
Anyone out there listening?? SMILE!

North Carolina Vacation...Part 2

We continue this post with our trip to North Carolina. If you have never been to
The Arboretum of Hanover County you are missing a gem. This place is so gorgeous!

This is the Children's Garden.

I just adore this little house and fence.

This is the beautiful Rose Garden that is just loaded with different kinds of roses.

The building above houses the Gift Shop and restrooms. It was hot, hot, hot this day so we all
took advantage of the cool air inside.

Love the tables and chairs. Just perfect for a picnic.

They had bright painted objects throughout the garden. Usually I am not drawn to bright colors,
but they fit in just right here.

Entrance to the Rose Garden that our two granddaughters are walking through.

My hubby loved this dragon. I think he would have pulled it home if he could. lol
Notice the GREEN water. Seemed to be that way a lot of places. Not sure why.

Feeding the fish. These fish were HUGE and there were a lot of them!

Perfect walk for a Children's Garden.

I hope you enjoyed your tour though this amazing place. They also had a Japanese Garden, but
those photos didn't turn out too great. It was a very sunny and bright day. Just right for
wandering through unknown paths and enjoying all of God's beautiful creation!

Blessings~

Sharing my hydrangeas

I truly think the right name was picked for these hydrangeas!
I wonder how they come up with the names? They never ask me, I know that! lol

INVINCIBELLE SPIRIT...perfect fitting name for these gorgeous flowers!

From the day I planted them they have grown leaps and bounds every year.

I purchased them on clearance a few years ago for $5 a bush instead of $24.
I wish now that I had purchased every single one they had.

{Click on this link to read a great article of how these flowers came to be}
It is very interesting!

They grow tall and lush for me in my black Michigan soil.

The sun was really bright on the above photo thus it looks washed out.
They really are as bright as the previous photos.

Do you see a running theme in my flowers?
Lots of PINK...I love pink flowers.

I hope you are having a great week. The temps here are gorgeous for the next couple
days. Not too hot and not too cold. Just perfect.

I love summer when it isn't scorching hot!! I am not one for liking hot weather
at all. I guess it is a good thing that I don't live down south.

How are your flowers doing? I would love to know.

St. Francis of Assisi among the Hydrangeas

I love this time of year when my gorgeous pink hydrangeas
put on a beautiful show!  These are the easiest bushes I have ever grown.

I purchased them at the end of August in 2011 and they have performed for me amazingly
ever single year since then. They have very tiny and delicate florets that make up each flower
so they are definitely different than most hydrangeas.
They are certainly a show stopper!

I paid $5 each for huge bushes at the end of the season and I wish I had purchased
every single one of them. I went on a hunt for more this year and haven't found
any yet.

Don't you just love them in my metal Basil basket? 

I also added a few in this cement piece and it added the perfect punch of color.

St. Francis of Assisi hanging out in the middle of the beauty. I also have another St. Francis statue
that is cement and I love them both.

My daughter gave me this statue as a birthday gift or Mothers Day several years ago.
I don't remember which. lol

I looked up St. Francis of Assisi and here is what I learned. He was the patron Saint of animals.
I am sure you knew that as did I, but I also found out more information some of which
 I didn't know.

"He was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the church by taking the gospel
literally-not in a narrow fundamentalist sense , but in actually following all that Jesus
said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a mite of self-importance"...

"From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano , Christ told him,
"Francis , go out and build up my house , for it is nearly falling down".
Francis became the totally poor and humble workman."

He was never ordained into the Catholic priesthood, but he is one of the most venerated
religious figures in history.
His father was a prosperous silk merchant and Francis led the high-spirited life of  a
typical wealthy young man even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war
in 1204 Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for
worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's
Basilica. The experience moved him to live in poverty.

Very interesting! I didn't type it all so if you want to read the whole story you can
click here and here or just google St Francis of Assisi.

Have a beautiful Thursday!