Whitney Gardens

For as long as I can remember I have never been a big fan of rhododendrons. They are our state flower but the only ones that I can remember are the standard ones from the major stores, red, pink and white. To me pretty boring plants. I have however found a love for them now. I have discovered the thousands of different colors and that there are even ones that are fragrant. It is a heavenly fragrance too and when you are surrounded by these rhodies that are taller than a 2 story house the fragrance takes you to a warm place. They are also evergreen which I have come to love and they bring color to my gardens in the spring. Over the last 3 to 4 years I have rescued a few from people's yards and brought them back to life and have not been disappointed. Whitney Gardens in Brinnon has become one of my favorite places to visit in the early spring. Usually I only go once but this year I got the pleasure of going twice and one of the times was just yesterday and it was an explosion of colors. There are 7 acres of rhodies and they are so old that it is a forest of rhodies the size of large evergreens. Each year my list of wants in this department gets longer and yesterday I ended up with plants that weren't even on my list. On my way home Sean called me and he could tell how wonderful of a day I had and he asked me if I would be happy if I could just plop my house down in the middle of their gardens. I of course told him YES! Here are a few pictures of my happy day!

A rhodie I just rescued a couple weeks ago. Don't know the name yet.

Peach Charm I got from Whitney's a couple years ago.

Legend

Legend close up

Anne's Delight

Windsong

Pinwheels

Wine Fushia

Thor which I brought home yesterday

Anna x Yaku No. 301

Jalapeno

Orange Prelude

Not sure of the name of this one

Blue Crown

Markeeta's Prize

Loderi Irene Stead, this is one that I want! Very fragrant!

Loderi Irene Stead again look how big the flowers are.

Loderi Ilam Cream another fragrant big flower

Refrain Azalea, one on my list for next year. I got the Ben Morrison and I am loving what it's going to look like. I will try to remember to post a picture when it blooms.

Seattle White Azalea, one of my purchases yesterday.

Quakress Azalea, stunning!

Ambrosia Azalea

Arneson's Gem Azalea, very large flowers for an azalea

Buttons and Bows Azalea

Cornus Dorothy. This has to be the largest dogwood flower I have ever seen.

Cornus Dorothy tree

Spiraea Mellow Yellow, a new want on my list

This tree peony was taller than me and was held up with re-bar. The flowers were as big as my head so I took a self portrait so you could see. I hope everyone enjoys!

Tulip Festival

Dennell invited us to their house to go to the Tulip Festival and come stay the night. We left right after preschool and we had very beautiful weather for the tulips. We headed to Tulip Town after we picked Ireland up from school and of course I wrote down EVERY tulip as one that I just HAVE to have :) The tulips are a sure sign of spring and it makes me so excited for my gardens and what I have to look forward to. The kids were all in great moods and on good behavior. The boys loved that it had rained the day before and they found every mud puddle they could and so we had wet pants and wet shoes. Thankfully Dennell lives right down the road and we didn't have very far to go. It was a great time and it went by too fast!!

Toddler class

Last Thursday's toddler class we painted the kids feet and had them walk on a strip of paper. It was so neat to watch and once Brayden had seen one kid do it he was all ready. I was very impressed with how well he did getting his feet painted and then he got up and walked right across it. He was smiling and really enjoying himself! It is amazing how much he is coming around to new people and getting comfortable in different environments.

Lake Chelan

I joined my grandparents this past weekend in Lake Chelan at the family condo. I haven't been to the condo in many years and it was nice to get away for the weekend. While we were in Chelan, Sean took his jeep and went wheelin in Oregon with the guys. Chelan had some very warm weather this weekend and we enjoyed every moment of it. The boys swam in the indoor pool and we did a little putt-putt golf. We played on every slide we could find and then headed to the beach to throw some rocks. The boys slept very well and we took our time getting back and stopped in Leavenworth and up at Snoqualmie pass.

We ate breakfast Sat. morning up at Blueberry Hill and I loved these benches they have out front! It was a good breakfast too!

Naps after swimming and the kids were exhausted. Poor Hunter scooted himself onto the table and when I moved him back he stayed asleep.

Brayden chasing the squirrels :)

Hunter playing putt-putt

He was having a good time

Brayden found a slide

and the ducks

Breathtaking views wherever you looked

Big slide

I couldn't get him off this slide and he would come down it really fast.

Hunter went down once and wasn't too sure about it, but he enjoyed watching Brayden come flying down over and over again.

The merry-go-round.




Having cookies before we sat down to watch The Princess and the Frog

Arriving in Leavenworth

I just loved the warm day with the snow topped mountains in the background. People were riding bikes and in sandals and shorts. The weather was beautiful!