Sunny Summer Days, Vol. III

There's nothing quite like summer in Minnesota. And there's nothing quite like the gardeners who make it their passion to cultivate their winter-hardy perennials. Being that my gardens have gradually grown over the years since hubby and I have been married, I can truly appreciate the endless labor of love another gardener puts forth. I also understand how those beautiful flowers help someone begin their green thumb and a hobby emerges.

My mom and I decided that a self-guided garden tour in a neighboring town would be worth a portion of our Saturday and would allow for a nice outing for us together.



So many of the gardens were in their prime and were flourishing with blooms. Gardens like these could almost make one envious, don't you think?



This raised vegetable garden has now made it to my 'dream garden' list and I think I will keep carefully prodding hubby about this one. Perhaps in a few years we could have a really neat gated, fenced in garden like this one.



This unique sitting area at a home in town especially caught my eye. I loved how they just raised it one step to take it off of ground level and it was just enough to create something different and serene. Of course, it also helped that this area looked out into another garden where there was a small fountain in the corner of their yard that gurgled softly. The only places I can picture this in our yard would be so infested with mosquitoes that we'd never get to sit there and enjoy it. Ah, a girl can dream.



This garden I appreciated because of the height of the flowers. Coneflowers and daylilies filled this garden and nestled there amidst them all was a simple birdbath/fountain. Very cute.



Remember that envy I mentioned earlier? Well, you can't help but have it when you go to strangers houses and you see so many neat ideas. So I took a few photos for the ideas and also to inspire my creative and handy husband for future projects. Yup, he really likes that. Well, he doesn't mind really. It's just that his list is so long of 'cute projects' that I have for him that he could spend until well beyond retirement age fulfilling them all.

The cascading and vining of this ivy over a homemade arbor was especially breathtaking. I can easily see several spaces in our yard that I would love to see this type of arbor.



I do think that this bench would make a very nice Christmas gift. Don't you?



At the end of the day, it was the perfect way to spend some mother-daughter time. We both really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks Mom!