Gardens Make Me Happy. Very Happy.

Today I visited Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh for the very first time ever. How I managed to live before now without seeing those gardens is beyond me. Oh, gosh, what a gardener's dream.



The online tips said to allot 90 minutes to see everything. We enjoyed every minute of the 3 hours we were there. I wish we'd have had more time. So many plants. So many gardens. So many styles. So much fun.



I kicked myself every fifty eight seconds for not taking the other lens for the camera. I also failed at working the twenty-five-cent lockers and had to break a $10 to get another quarter to try again. We had a picnic lunch in the sunshine on the patio.



We wandered around and around and around, and looked at everything twice. Or more. The gardeners redoing the seasonal room finally asked us if we were looking for anything in particular. Then they wondered if we were lost. I'm pretty sure they came to the final conclusion that we were demented, but they kept that thought to themselves. And still, we wandered around and around, looking and touching and oohing and aaahing.



And then we had to come home because our children were due home from school. I pulled into the drive and realized that Sam has just mowed the lawn for the first time this spring. The daffodils are in full bloom and the hosta are coming up. The azalea are blooming and the forsythia are glowing yellow. And for the first time in gardening history, I loved my gardens just as much as the professional ones I drool over. No, my humble place isn't perfect, or even completed, but it makes me incredibly happy. And really, that's what a garden is all about.