This has truly been my summer of gardens with my pages filled to their paper white brims with daffodils and daisies, bees and butterflies. Hopefully, I’ve added a bit of sunshine to your life in the process of showing you everyone else’s garden, with a dash of my own.
We don’t travel much these days, but we are fortunate enough to be invited inside the garden gates throughout the Chicagoland area. Good things should be shared, so, I hope you don’t mind my giving you a few glimpses of gardens and sights I’ve enjoyed recently.
Last Sunday was the last of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days in our region. As a glorious day dawned, we made haste to get to the first garden, certain to be popular as it was the garden of renowned landscape designer, Craig Bergmann, at the Gardens at 900.
What a joy it was to run into some friends: bright flowers in the garden.
Right down the road is Ellawa Farm. Both gardens and the structures in them on the Open Day were originally part of the Armour Estate.
Ellawa has been refurbished and is under the protection of the Garden Conservancy. Thank goodness for organizations that preserve and maintain such wonderful gardens and open lands, for now and for the future, and that they are opened to garden and nature enthusiasts on select days.
Lovely!
LikeLike
Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gorgeous memories of summer days in so many lovely gardens! Every post that you share warms my heart with sunshine, Penny. I’m so happy to have found a kindred spirit in you! ♡
LikeLike
. . . and I in you Dawn. Thank you for such kind words. I hope you are enjoying this wonderful weather.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just beautiful 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you so very much.
LikeLike
Lovely! So they keep bees as well? I’ve always wondered what beekeepers do with their bees as the cold weather creeps in.
So glad to turn to your blog and see beautiful sights. A friend of mine and I were talking about some stories we’ve read recently, which left ugly images in our heads. So your photos are a good antidote.
LikeLike
They do. 🙂 I bought a small jar of their honey and it is oh-so-sweet. Bees hunker down together in the hive to keep each other warm. I think it is rather like a bee-hibernation (the insect version).
Thank you, L. Marie. I think we are all rather bogged down with the ugliness we see – glad to be a wee bit of an antidote.
LikeLike
Hi Penny, you added a lot of sunshine to my life . I enjoy reading your blog .
LikeLike
Thank you, Gerlinde – that means a lot to me. 🙂
LikeLike
The garden tours have been a joy every step of the way.
LikeLike
You are so sweet to say so, Marilyn. Thank you.
LikeLike
I definitely enjoy your garden adventures, Penny. And your photos are so nice to linger over. I often spy flowers or trees that I don’t know! I identify a little bit with your comment about not traveling very much, yet feeling very “nourished” by the many outings to gardens that have become like close fiends. When we live near large cities there are wonderful places to visit that others come from around the world to see, and so I think we’re fortunate to have those opportunities. I remind friends all the time that we should treat our own cities like we’re tourists, and we’d see so much more! 🙂 The idea that your beautiful botanical gardens survive the winter really intrigues me! I can hardly imagine. I’m glad you had a summer to experience an abundance of green before that winter comes to visit again. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, Debra. This means a lot to me. As travel is really not “in the cards” for us these days, we might as well enjoy what surrounds us. 🙂 Like you, I am surrounded by an abundance of public gardens and preserves to nourish, and these Open Days are remarkable opportunities to see inside the garden gates of real treasures. How right you are. We should treat our own cities like tourists. What fun that is.
Today, the wind is blowing, the temps have dropped a bit, and leaves are starting to fall. Our gardens are looking mighty tired, but, BUT I am looking forward to the spectacular splendor of the blast of colors about to come.
Have a good day, Debra. Thank you for your continued presence here.
LikeLike
Thank you for sharing all your gardening adventures Penny! I enjoy seeing the photos and reading your wonderful posts and not being a gardener myself, I learn a lot!
LikeLike
You are so nice to say so, Janet. Thank you. I DO love these garden tours. Maybe, someday, Ireland.
LikeLike