Welcome to Part 4, the last post of this year's annual...
Finally, the final finalist from July's event! Well, better late than never. As you may recall if you saw the first three posts from this series, eight finalists chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the event competed for the public's votes to determine a winner in each of two categories, "Amazing Backyard Gardens" and "Amazing Estate Gardens." This large property in the neighboring small mountain community of Story was the winning Estate Garden…
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Did you notice the three multi-colored "gazing globes" on the left side of the far bank?
They're bowling balls! :-)
One of the more relaxed inhabitants of the Fairy Garden in the woods beside the pond.
The bottle garden in hues of blues even features a Blue Spruce!
The waterfalls tumbling from the woods to the pond and decorated with various treasures was my favorite feature of the property, due in no small part to the wonderful goat ~ a larger version of my own!....
We also loved the mellow mermaid, chillin' on the rocks beside the pond...
A trek further "inland" brings you to the beautiful and colorful Peace Garden...
…and into the presence of its compassionate guardian, a sweetly carved St. Francis, who ~ as the patron saint of all fellow creatures, the environment, and peace ~ is very much at home among the birds and flowers in a Peace Garden...
I hope you enjoyed this year's tour! Though the real gardens have been put to bed for the winter, you can visit five other gardens from the tour anytime you want...
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3
What a delightful garden! I bret these people have no other hobbies distracting them ;)
ReplyDeleteThe surprising bits of whimsy also greatly appeal to me.
Ha, no kidding about the lack of other hobbies to distract - and yet, Robin seemed to have many! I also loved all the bits of whimsy, something almost all the gardens on the tour had in common and in abundance!
DeleteNow that.....is a garden! St.Francis is our hero, too ;-).
ReplyDeleteYep, wish more of my photos had turned out better, all the bright July sunshine made for difficult photography - they need to have the garden tour on an overcast day! :-)
DeleteAnd oh yes, I've always had a deep fondness for St. Francis (and Clare). If only his teachings had been given far more emphasis and influence through the centuries, what a different and better world we'd no doubt be living in now.
A wonderful garden! Such beautiful details there! Great!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was fun to revisit that beautiful setting and summer's day as I worked on this post while the cold wind howled and dark clouds blotted out the sun yesterday! :-)
Deletei don't know if this is appropriate --- but -- I vote for #3. They are all nice though. When are you going to put your garden on tour? -- barbara
ReplyDeleteOf course it's appropriate! Even if your vote is too late and from too far away to count in the competition (which is too bad, because #3 was our favorite too, and got our votes for the Estate category!), I love knowing which one was your favorite!
DeleteAs for our garden, we'll put it on tour when it consists of more than just a flower bed that takes 2 minutes to look at. LOL (Though I must say, it really looked beautiful this year, and has its own touches of whimsy on display - from an iguana peeking out from beneath the catmint to a pair of antique glass insulators to shells, rocks, driftwood and even a steel jellyfish garden stake we brought home from our trip to the Puget Sound last summer!) :-)
I like the glass insulators with the natural elements you are using for your garden -- plus -- a memory jellyfish from puget sound. -- barbara
DeleteThis is the only garden we didn't see, sorry we missed it. Your photos capture the flavor very well, so at least I can enjoy the garden second hand.
ReplyDeleteWell, I know that like the sunrises, it's a poor substitute for the real thing, but it's better than nothing so I'm glad I could provide a bit of the experience!
DeleteI need to catch up with you soon, we've had some stuff going on with Josie. :-(
I'm glad you're posting this late because it's so nice to see so much summery beauty at this dreary time of year!
ReplyDeleteA spring fed pond. Wow! That would be so great to sit next to and read. I love that they used bowling balls like that (very clever!) and I thought I recognized that goat. :)
My favorite, of course, is the Peace Garden. What a wonderful name for such a beautiful space! BW looks like he's determining where would be the best spot to chill out for a while in it. :)
Thanks for covering for my tardiness! LOL I'm glad these photos gave you a little dose of summer. :-)
DeleteDon't think I didn't think of that! Had my shady reading perch all picked out beside the waterfall for hot sunny days, and a spot selected in the Peace Garden for those basking days. :-) And on cozy days, just off the Peace Garden, was cute little shed that they'd turned into a little guest house (I don't remember now if I got any photos of it, and if I did they weren't blog-worthy), that was, in large part, a memorial to Robin's late brother. It would have been a fun little spot for reading on a rainy day. (Their actual house is a HUGE log home that looks like a Yellowstone lodge! So I liked the little cottage feel of the shed!)
A really gorgeous series!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda! I'm so pleased you enjoyed them!
DeleteHi,Laloofah. I felt I entered a fairy tale world by this post. The relaxed angel and the mellow mermaid photos are very beautiful. BTW, I uploaded one photo in flickr,https://www.flickr.com/photos/ms1144/ for your asking.
ReplyDeleteHi, Minoru! Oh good, I'm glad my photos gave you that feeling, because it was a lot like that to be there in person! Don't you love that mermaid? She was one of my favorite treasures. :-)
DeleteYou're so sweet to upload that delightful photo of your adorable wife for me! Tell her I said こんにちは! :-)