Guess Where I’ve Been?

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted for a few days (or maybe not 😉  I feel somewhat incomplete when I have gone more then three days without writing a blog post, but sometimes life gets a bit crazy or sometimes I go out of town.

I went away for a few days to a ‘mystery’ location.  I had a great time and was able to take some pictures of some beautiful potted plants, annuals, perennials and shrubs.

Some of you may be able to guess where I have been from my photos….

Pink and White Cyclamen

Beautiful potted plants , Easter Lilies, Pink Primrose and Trailing Variegated English Ivy

Perennial bed full of winter-flowering perennials

Beautiful potted plants , Vegetables used as ornamental plants.

Have you guessed where this is yet?

Let me zoom out a bit in the next few photos…

I love Icelandic Poppies, don’t you?

Mt. Lemmon Marigold

Japanese Evergreen Pear Tree

I love daisies, don’t you?

Okay, I think this photo will be a dead giveaway…

A pair of ‘swans’ amidst Blue Pansies

Do you notice the castle in the background?

I was at Disneyland!

Now don’t think for a minute that I didn’t bring my family along…

Can you tell that the sun was in their eyes?

My husband and I decided to surprise our kids with a 3-day trip to Disneyland.

When my father-in-law died last fall, my mother-in-law received an unexpected life insurance payment from his few years on the Air Force.

She gave some the insurance money to each of us.  So, we decided to use the money to treat ourselves and the kids to a fun vacation.

We didn’t tell the kids anything about leaving on a trip.  I had my daughter, Rachele, take the kids to church and I packed up both our cars while they were gone.

When they got home, we told them to get in the cars and we took off.  They had no idea what was going on.  Gracie (above) was in the car with my husband and I.  She guessed where we were going within 3 minutes.

However, Kai and Ruthie, who were in our daughter’s car, couldn’t figure it out.  They kept calling us on the phone, trying to guess.  About two hours later, we stopped for gas and told them where we were going.

Kai is a little wet after Splash Mountain.

We had a fabulous time and stayed until the park closed each day.

We even spent a whole day at ‘California Adventure’ as well.

I remember going to Disneyland quite often as a child and teenager.  We had taken our two oldest girls quite often when they were young.  In fact, it was our oldest daughter’s idea to go to Disneyland with the younger kids because years ago, we had surprised her and Rachele with a trip there as well.

I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the gardens were.  I didn’t remember them looking so nice, so I took quite a lot of photos.

There were some great examples of plants that look great in winter for our climate and a unique way to use vegetables.

I’ll share more plant and family photos once my husband emails them to me from his iPhone 🙂

Confessions from a ‘Plant Nerd’

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."