Minter Gardens

 Ever since my in-laws moved to Chilliwack, my Mother-in-law and I have talked about visiting Minter Gardens.  I have some lovely memories of Minter Gardens from when I was a kid- it was a place we often went with out-of-town visitors and I have great summer memories from here.  Of course, at the time I didn't really appreciate the whole "garden" part of it, I liked going for the long drive and doing something touristy on my summer holidays. Now though I could not wait to see it again, especially with my Mother-in-law who loves flowers as much as I do.

So us girls went the other day and we were not disappointed- it really was an inspiration!

Grandma and J in front of the gorgeous delphiniums

My little model

The hugh floral peacock

Delphinium loveliness

More gorgeousness

A lovely church facade

J with a floral maiden

We didn't have a lot of time, but we motored through and I took pictures like a crazy lady, but who cares!  It was so nice to be surrounded by such beauty and creativity.  I was very envious of the young landscaping men and women who get to spend there whole summer weeding and pruning and planting in this hugh garden- why didn't I know about these types of jobs when I was a teenager!





Honeysuckle

I love to garden, but I have a lot to learn!  Some of my gardening attempts are flops, but occasionally I'll do something that works.  For example, last year was the first year in our new house and when spring came along, I was anticipating what was going to emerge from the garden.  I was excited to see the beautifully delicate orange kerria bloom along side my house and lily of the valley poke out of the flower beds, and the bright yellow forsythia bloom along our driveway.  These were all plants and shrubs on my wish list- so I was very happy!  But what our garden lacked was any summer blooming perennials, so I grabbed my perennial resource books, "Perennial Favorites", by Lois Hole and "Perennials for British Columbia" by Alison Beck and Marianne Binetti and listed what I wanted in our garden.
    

My favourite gardening books

Perennials to me are subtle, simple and reliable and I love this about them.  They aren't flashy and flighty like annuals.  Perennials are like a good friend- they are always in your life year to year and you appreciate them more and more because of this!  Annuals show up and take the limelight with their bright colours and long blooming abilities, but that's it- after summer ends they are burnt out and gone.
 One of my must haves was the simple but gorgeously intoxicating Honeysuckle.  I found the perfect spot along our back fence for it.  It gets enough sunlight here, it is away from the path of Rex, our black lab, and hopefully close enough to our patio that we will smell its incredible fragrance when we sit outside in the summer evenings.   Last summer it bloomed, but it was still a baby so I knew if it survived during the winter it would be even better this summer.  Well it survived and I was right!  It has grown so much, I've had to trim it back a bit and tack it to our fence.  I am even sharing it with our neighbors over the fence!

Intoxicating

So my idea worked- the Honeysuckle has taken off and in the evenings when we are on the patio, its intoxicating sent gently wafts by.

This is something that is satisfying to me and makes me very happy!

Hello! I'm New Here!

This is my first blog ever... I suddenly felt compelled today to create a blog to express my love of all things beautiful.  I try to surround myself with beautiful things- flowers, pattern, colour, art etc and I know how important it is for my soul to do this! It brings peace and serenity to my often chaotic life as a full time Mom and wife and part time banker.

 My hobbies are centered around beauty- I knit and garden mostly and am attracted to the element of design and patterning in both.  I am entranced when I see God's design in a garden- it takes my breath away!  I have read a few quotes that mention that it is in the garden that we find God- it is so true for me.

While I love all things beautiful, I am not always successful at creating this ideal in my house and garden.  Unfortunately, time and money are limited as it is for many others and I always find it a challenge to take the idea in my mind and make it a reality- sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.  I think that this is what I want to explore in this blog- finding ways to satisfy the urge to create when life gets in the way and being successful at taking what I see in my mind and making it real.