Winter in Spring

This has been a wonderful, wonderful day!  In the morning, I picked up my friend Gretchen and we headed out on a Grown-Up Field Trip: we were on the road to the Winter Greenhouse, in Winter, Wisconsin.

Put all images of frost and snow out of your head, because this lovely place was dripping with the jewels of spring.  See for yourself:

Gorgeous, aren't they?  The most inspirational part of the visit was wandering the various gardens and seeing how the plants (available for purchase in the greenhouses) would look after they had grown a bit.  It was very hard to not walk away with everything in the place...but I restrained myself admirably.  I came home with some water plants for my little pond (water hyacinth, blue flag iris, and this lovely variegated reed), a bright yellow perennial yarrow, some replacement herbs for the transplants that didn't make it, only one gnome, and a really pretty crystal & bell windchime that I have already hung in the tree.  I was on a mission to find unusual hostas for a friend, as well, which was more of a challenge than I had thought it would be.  There were about a hundred different varieties, all unique and lovely, so I broke down and called her up and got some pointers on what "unique" really meant.  I eventually picked a couple that are yellow all season, and boy do they pop in the shade!  Hopefully, my friend Trudy will think they are exactly what her gardens needed once I deliver them.

I think I may have found yet another garden project I need to undertake.  I know, another one??  This one is pretty irresistable, though.  It involves miniature plants, little tiny furnishings, and fairy houses.

See what I mean?  It is too, too cute.

A teeny tiny rabbit in a teeny tiny garden, with teeny tiny birdhouse gourds for teeny orioles.

And cats, napping on little gnomish twig chairs.

It is cuteness overload, and more than a little bit silly, but oh, how I want to cultivate a tiny fairy garden of my own.  This one had a little river flowing down into a teeny lake.  There was even a teeny tiny canoe...I think I may be in trouble here.