Summer Travels
I had the opportunity this summer to do quite a bit of travelling and I decided I really like it a lot- I gotta go more often! My garden suffered for it a bit though- in July I was gone for a whole week- a very dry week- and some plants really didn’t fare well in my abscence. Oh well- it was a very worthwhile trip and they’ll either come back or they won’t. “A dead plant is a good reason to get a new plant” is what I always say!
I drove to Itasca, Illinois for a mural artist’s convention in mid July- spent four days in a nice hotel, then drove down to Mokena, Illinois to meet a very dear friend I had met on line and visit with her for a day Before continuing back over to Michigan to spend a couple of days along the Lake Michigan shore with my daughter. Mokena is near Joliet, and we took off for a beautiful park near there in the Joliet Park District http://www.jolietpark.org/- driving in her adorable red convertable PT Cruiser. What fun driving through this climax forest on one way roads, following a beautiful river! The trees were so huge! We stopped at the Nature Center in Pilcher’s Park http://www.jolietpark.org/facilities/pilcherpark.shtml and looked at all the displays and I found a terrific little book I just had to have: “Garlic Mustard From Pest to Pesto” Most of the recipes look delicious, I’m going to have to try some of them- like the Wild Garlic Mustard and Potato Chowder or Sauteed Chicken Breast with Garlic Mustard Pesto -don’t they sound really good? The book was printed in Kalamazoo, Michigan from the Kalamazoo Nature Center there- perhaps we’ll try to get some copies sent to us here at MGAWC.
There was also a lovely greenhouse on the park grounds http://www.jolietpark.org/facilities/greenhouse.shtml called the Bird Haven Greenhouse, with some absolutely gorgeous tropical plantings in it and cages with birds inside, and a huge hummingbird garden outside, with the Horticultural Center http://www.jolietpark.org/facilities/horticultural.shtml. We had an absolute blast visiting all these places, seeing the beautiful gardens, the birds and the forests, walking a little bit of trail, too. Many thanks to my good friend Cris for showing me that lovely place!
Later that same week, I went on Margot’s bus trip to Applewood and Dow gardens. Wow- what a great trip! Margot is the best at getting things organized and making sure everyone is taken care of. We had plenty of water, snacks and food on board for the entire day on the bus, and even some entertainment in the form of a DVD for the trip back! And the gardens! The gardens were fantastic, I walked my legs off trying to see everything and took loads of pictures. I made a short PhotoShow (a kind of slide show set to music) with some of the pictures and it can be found on my blog site here sometime around the end of August. Next time you have the opportunity to go on one of Margot’s trips, GO! You won’t regret it!
My travels are over for now, back to the watering schedule, the weeding and deadheading in my own garden, harvesting the peaches, tomatos and raspberries and sitting on the deck in the shade dreaming about where I could go next!
See you in the Garden!
Ellen Leigh
PS- if the links above don’t work- copy and paste them into your browser to take a look.
