Free Public Gardens Day

Friday was National Public Gardens Day. Powell Gardens is one of only three gardens in the area that participate in the free admission offer and is the closest to our house, so guess where we went? This visit was vastly different from last year's. For one thing, the sun was shining and not too hot. And there were tons of people! Including five or six busloads of kids, an assortment of nature photographers, and even a couple of homeschooling families that we know.

First thing we did was find a sunny spot to have lunch.

And then we toured the Jurassic garden. Z was a real trooper and actually walked the entire way, not an inconsiderable distance.

After that, I thought for sure the girls would be ready to go home, but they insisted on visiting the edible garden and the big apple sculpture. I convinced them that they didn't want to walk all the way out to the barn, so we stopped to see the fountain (below), which some kids were playing in.

Artichokes.

BB really wanted to jump in the fountain, but I wasn't in the mood, so she contented herself with watching.

G took these pictures (with my camera) while we waited, and then we went home.