Let Summer Begin!

I hope your Memorial Day Weekend was a good one . . . let summer begin!  I hope you also took a moment to reflect on the sacrifices our service personnel have made to insure our freedoms . . . can't thank them enough!

I enjoyed the Garden Gala in Jonesborough, TN on Saturday . . . great gardening inspirations!!!  Here are a few pictures of my favorite spots on the tour:

This yard is my favorite for garden inspirations . . . so many cute ideas! 

These are all from the same yard!  How cute are the chairs on the side of the shed!?  Love the dry creek bed . . . the garden art . . . the cold frames and greenhouse made from old windows . . . the strawberries planted in the whiskey barrel . . . the twig vine with little white lights along the top of the front porch . . . the chicken coop . . .
I could have stayed here all day!


Oh, but there was more to see . . .

                          Look at those ferns ! ! !

 

These are the gardens of Curtis Buchanan (and family) Curtis is a chair maker.  Beautiful gardens . . . beautiful chairs!  His chairs are in the permanent collection of the Tennessee State Museum, the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, the Tennessee State Governor’s Mansion and Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.  Check out his website:
http://www.curtisbuchananchairmaker.com/home.html


On with the tour . . .

Not a clue as to what kind of bird this is . . . beautiful . . . succulents growing on the roof of the cage.

Cute idea to put electrical insulators on an iron fence!

Love the "birds on a wire" above the entrance to the pool.

Time for tea . . . or punch . . . and cookies.

Jan greets us at the tea in her "garden hat".  She's a hoot!

Refreshed and ready to move on . . .

a lovely cottage garden by a lovely Scottish lady.  She says that her sister attended the Chelsea Flower Show in England and that they no longer call a plant "invasive" . . . they are now referred to as "promiscuous" . . .  love it!

     The fairy garden.






Lovely gardens everywhere on this property!

On to Dick's garden railway: 

 

And then my camera's battery died!

We visited a few others and then ended the tour at the Ardinna Woods Arboretum & Butterfly Garden . . . a labor of love.  I purchased a pussy willow plant from the Arboretum and returned home chomping at the bit to dig up the entire yard for new gardens . . .

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