Yesterday, I mentioned the different ways that the residents of Green Bay honor their football team. Today, as we got ready to leave, we saw a couple more signs of fervent fans.
The breakfast room at the hotel was filled with people wearing Packer football shirts. There was a young boy, about 10 years old, who had prosthetic legs decorated with Green Bay Packer stickers.
Driving through Green Bay, we also noticed that the trash cans in front of people’s homes were green and yellow. Green Bay, Wisconsin is the smallest city that has an NFL team and the residents are very proud of their football team.
We left Green Bay and made our way north to Door County, which is a narrow peninsula that rises above Green Bay. It is dotted with small towns, orchards, dairies and fishing villages.
We spent the morning in Sturgeon Bay visiting the local farmers/craft market and the local museum’s rummage sale.
Have you ever heard of cheese curds? Friends of mine who have visited Wisconsin before, have told me to try cheese curds, which are chunks of solid cheese, which forms from the whey during the cheese-making process. Once the curds form, they are pressed into molds to form cheese.
In the midwest, cheese curds are a popular snack. It is said that they ‘squeak’ when you eat them. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to eat something that squeaks. But, this has been a road trip of ‘firsts’ so I bought some curds at the farmers market.
We spent the afternoon driving south toward Madison, Wisconsin just in time to watch the horse race on television. Sadly, our favorite, California Chrome, did not win, but we did enjoy a simple dinner of food bought at the farmers market earlier today.
A fresh baguette, cheese curds and carrots make a great dinner while watching the Belmont Stakes horse race.
And yes, the cheese curds do ‘squeak’, but they are delicious!
Tomorrow, we are off to explore and I promise to take lots of pictures!
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We are officially halfway through our road trip through the upper midwest. (Feel free to read about days one, two and three).
When we go on our road trips, not all of our destinations are necessarily known to draw tourists. Sometimes we have to spend the night in an area just because it is on the way to our next destination.
It is during these times that we get acquainted with small towns. I have never lived in a small town – I have lived in suburbs my entire life.
That was where we found ourselves last night – in a small town halfway through the lower part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The only restaurant in town was Bob’s Big Boy and we were greeted by a giant moose dressed as Bob. The food was good and it reminded me of eating at Bob’s Big Boy restaurants as a child in California.
For some reason, there was a moose dressed in another outfit in front of our hotel as well.
This is the view from our hotel this morning. It was cloudy and cold at 41 degrees.
We dressed warmly and left on our way toward Wisconsin and further adventures.
This is the view that we saw from the car 90-percent of the time as we drove through the Upper Peninsula, which is sparsely populated.
As we were driving, I saw a young bear cub romping toward the trees and the beach – pretty cool!
We crossed into Wisconsin and stopped by a small restaurant that is a favorite among locals. As we stepped out of our car, we noticed that the temperature was 40 degrees warmer (81 degrees) then where we had left from that morning.
The food was good, but basic. Bratwursts, hot dogs and burgers made up the menu. You could tell that the restaurant was very popular with newspaper articles posted on the walls, t-shirts for sale and a lot of customers.
When in Wisconsin, you shop for cheese. My husband loves cheese, so I made sure to buy some for him.
There were many types of cheese and while my husband likes trying out unique flavors, I figured that he wasn’t up to having chocolate cheese fudge.
I did end up buying garlic cheddar, smoked cheddar and chipotle cheddar cheeses.
An piece of a tree trunk makes a nice planter for annual flowers at the entrance to the Green Bay Botanical Garden.
As we entered Green Bay, Wisconsin, we decided to visit the local botanical garden.
As my loved ones know, when I am in a garden, I tend to walk off and disappear as I take pictures of plants. Thankfully, my husband and my mother are understanding about this tendency.
Curve your garden paths to add interest and a bit of mystery as to what is around the bend.
As a horticulturist and garden writer, I have a large photo library of plants. Some of the writing I do is not limited to the southwest, but for all regions of the United States. So, I like to take opportunities when I travel to take photos of plants that I will use later.
Lavender Peonies
I have a list of plants that I would love to have in my garden – but that do not grow in my desert climate.
Red Peonies
One of those plants on my list are peonies.
I love their full, ruffled flowers borne above bright-green foliage.
Did I mention that they are also wonderfully fragrant?
I have photographed peonies on previous trips, but I’ve never had the opportunity to see so many different-colored peonies in one place.
Peonies bloom once a year in late spring into early summer depending on the variety and climate.
They die back to the ground in winter.
While peonies will grow in most climates, but they need cold temperatures in winter, so they do not grow well in zones 9 and above.
Bleeding Hearts ‘Alba’
Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) are another flowering plant that I would grow, if I could. They love cool, shady gardens.
Their flowers resemble a ‘bleeding heart’, hence their common name. Available in both pink and white forms, this flowering perennial is just lovely.
White Bleeding Hearts
Do you have a bird bath in your garden? I like the simplicity of this stone one.
When visiting botanical gardens, I am always getting new ideas for the garden.
While I have seen trellises created from branches before, I think this is the best one I have seen. The branches are large enough to be able to provide support for climbing plants. Rebar posts are used to anchor the trellis.
I think that I may have to make some for my own garden.
False Indigo (Baptisia australis)
Blue-flowering plants help to visually cool the garden, which can be welcome during the warm summer months.
Blue Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis sylvatica)
Blue flowering plants look great when paired with white, pink or pale yellow plants.
Willow Amsonia (Amsonia tabernaemontana)
From a design standpoint, I like how a strip of blue phlox was planted to divide two separate plantings – don’t you?
Wild Red Columbine (Columbine canadensis)
Wild red columbine was planted throughout the garden, in order to attract ruby-throated hummingbirds, which is the only hummingbird species found in Wisconsin.
As I got ready to leave the garden, I spotted this guy working very hard cutting back the weeds/grass with a brush cutter. The slope was steep and it was a hot day – it made me glad that my garden doesn’t have steep slopes.
*After leaving the gardens, we drove through the city of Green Bay. Now, if you haven’t heard of the fervent fan base of the Green Bay Packers football team, than you must have your head buried in the sand.
Packer Stadium
Spend just a few minutes in the city and it is obvious that they love their football team. How do I know this?
Across the street from the stadium are homes that back up to the street. Without exception, every house has some sort of Packer decoration.
From a decorated gate, a raised deck encircled with etched glass with the Packer emblem and a giant football statue – the neighborhood has it all.
You can even buy cheese in your favorite Packer shape.
*I hope you are enjoying reading about our road trip adventures. Thank you to those of you who have commented!
Tomorrow, we are off to more road trip adventures!
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When friends heard that I was going to Michigan, every single one of them told me that I must go to Mackinac Island.
To be honest, I was somewhat skeptical of whether or not I would like Mackinac Island. I tend to not enjoy what some people would call ‘tourist traps’.
I was hopeful that Mackinac Island would be someplace that I would enjoy. So far, our trip has been filled with fun adventures including a wine tasting and climbing a lighthouse yesterday.
So, we got up this morning, drove to the ferry and took it out to the island – about 20 minutes.
Along the way, our ferry passed underneath the Mackinac Bridge, which is the 3rd largest suspension bridge in the world and spans 5 miles. It is designed to move up to 35 feet in windy conditions – kind of scary sounding to me.
Later in the day, we would cross this bridge by bar, as it connects lower Michigan with the Upper Peninsula and our next destination.
On our way to the Mackinac Island, we passed a smaller island where the Round Island Lighthouse stood sentinel.
I am rapidly becoming a fan of lighthouses!
We started nearing the island and could see the buildings, including a picturesque church and its steeple.
*Pardon the photo quality – I had to take them through the window of the boat.
Our boat landed and we disembarked, anxious to explore the island.
The main street is flanked by Victorian-style buildings filled with shops, restaurants AND stores offering all types of fudge.
Fudge is a really big deal in Mackinac Island. In fact, the people who live on this island refer to the tourists as “fudgies”.
There are over 17 different stores that sell fudge on the island.
*We stopped at one and I picked up 1 1/2 pounds of fudge. I know that is an obscene amount of fudge, but it is easy to get carried away when you read all of the different varieties while the fragrance of fudge is wafting through the air. To justify my large purchase, I bought a 1/2 pound of peanut butter fudge for my husband and a 1/2 pound of regular chocolate for my kids. I’m reserving the toffee fudge for myself.
For those of you not familiar with Mackinac Island, there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. So, everything is brought in by horse or bicycle, whether it is wine or…
Plants!
Just 3 weeks, there was still snow in parts of the island, so the planting season is just getting underway.
It was so interesting seeing plants being hauled in by horse and by…
Bicycle!
Other items we saw being brought in by horses included boxed groceries from the mainland, furniture, merchandise for the stores – basically anything that motorized vehicles deliver to us regular folks.
Even the police rely on getting around on bikes, but they do have a police car they can use in case of emergency.
Firetrucks and ambulances are also allowed to drive the streets of the island.
Having so many horses around, delivering goods and moving people about makes a certain dirty job a necessity…
The next time my son complains about having to scoop up the dog poop in our backyard, I will point that he has it easy compared to this guy.
We enjoyed browsing through the shops along the main street and I found some gifts for my kids.
I didn’t see any store or restaurant chains except for Starbucks, much to my mother’s delight.
Summer has definitely arrived and I loved seeing all of the colorful plantings, including this one using a bicycle. Geraniums (Pelargoniums) and ivy were planted in the front and back baskets.
I am a huge fan of hanging baskets lining a porch or street, but I don’t have any at home, because it can be a struggle because our dry climate makes it hard to keep the roots moist without constant watering more then once a day.
I did love this particular hanging basket, which was made up of pink ‘Wave’ petunias, white bacopa and purple verbena.
Have you ever seen a prettier post office?
I sat down on a little bench in front and wrote post cards to my kids and sent them off.
Even the courthouse and police station put on a floral show with bright-red tulips.
There are many old buildings on Mackinac Island and plaques in front of each describe their historical importance.
I love this old fence – it has so much character, don’t you think?
Fort Mackinac was founded in 1780 and still stands today. It is up on the hill that overlooks the main street of the island.
Here is the back view of the fort.
This beautiful building is the Michigan’s governor’s summer residence.
Like the fort, it too sits up on the hillside. The governor spends a few weeks during the summer there – not a bad deal, I must say.
Probably the most famous place on the island is The Grand Hotel, a 5-star hotel, built in 1887.
It is very fancy, beautiful and expensive.
We didn’t tour the hotel, because of time constraints. But if you want to learn more about this iconic hotel, click here.
To get a real feel for the island, its people and its history – we decided to take a carriage tour. The tour begins downtown, but soon goes up into the more uninhabited areas of the island.
Horses pull carriages full of tourists. The horses resemble Clydesdale horses and are raised by the Amish.
Approximately 80% of Mackinac Island is a state park.
The carriage took us through the beautiful woods of the island and our tour guide was full of interesting information.
Dead trees aren’t removed, despite the fire danger they pose because the island does not have a lot of topsoil. So the fallen trees are allowed to decay, adding organic matter to the soil.
Arch Rock was an interesting limestone formation that we saw along the tour.
I highly recommend going on a carriage tour after spending time on the main street or else you miss a large part of the island’s identity and beauty.
My mother and I had a fabulous time on the island and spent longer there then we had planned.
After returning on the ferry back to the mainland, we picked up our car, headed over the Mackinac Bridge toward the Upper Peninsula, which is not known for the large amount of people who live here. In fact, in the 2 hours we drove from the bridge, we saw few buildings, homes and people.
This is where we are – in a small town in the middle of the Upper Peninsula.
Tomorrow, we will drive through the remainder of the Upper Peninsula to Green Bay, Wisconsin and more adventures!
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Day 2 of our road trip was filled with quite a few firsts for me.
My mother and I are on our fourth annual road trip and this time we are exploring the upper midwest. You can read about day 1 hereif you like.
Today, we woke up in beautiful Traverse City, with is located along the western side of Michigan. It is a very popular location for visitors and it was easy to see why.
Our first stop was to visit the local farmers market in the historic downtown area.
Whenever I travel, I like to to take time to talk to the local farmers about their produce and talk about the similarities and differences of growing the same types of vegetables.
Asparagus is really big in this part of Michigan. There are signs for it everywhere along the roadways. In the farmers market, just about everyone had some for sale.
Too bad, I don’t like asparagus 😉
A variety of herbs and vegetable transplants were available for sale. I just love the color of purple basil – I have some growing in my herb container at home.
I love baked goods a lot!
Cherries are grown in the area and you can find cherries in just about everything including salsa.
There were quite a few planted containers filled with flowers ready for eager homeowners.
I really like herb planters like this one.
After the farmers market, we headed up toward the Old Mission Peninsula, which is a small finger of land that extends up from Traverse City. Our destination was to see the Mission Point Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.
What we hadn’t prepared for was the beautiful scenery along the drive. Orchards were filled with cherry trees, one type of fruit tree that does not grow in my desert climate.
Along the way, we spotted numerous vineyards.
The lilacs are in bloom everywhere and this vineyard was flanked by a huge lilac bush.
It’s hard to believe that this barren vine will soon be covered with leaves and sweet grapes.
Then we saw this sign, which led to one of my ‘firsts’.
The sign led us to Peninsula Cellars Winery, whose store is housed in an old, historic schoolhouse.
The inside of the old school was very charming.
I have never been much of a wine drinker. The few times I have tried it, I didn’t really enjoy the taste.
But, I figured if I could do a bourbon taste test on our last trip, I would participate in a wine tasting for the first time.
I tasted four different wines and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked two of them very much.
Many of their wines had a school-themed name due to the old school building. Their ‘Detention’ wine was a popular choice.
*Note: I have never gotten a detention at school.
I came away from my first wine tasting with a new appreciation for wine and a bottle of my favorite to share with my husband when I get home 🙂
As we got back on the road toward the Mission Point Lighthouse, we were told to stop by the old general store.
The Old Mission General Store is one of those places found out in the middle of the country. You can see the lake behind it.
The store had a collection of the old and the new – but mostly old.
Barrels filled with salted peanuts and a variety of old-fashioned candies would make excite any child.
Old-fashioned sodas were offered alongside more current soda choices.
A unique collection of foods were offered in the deli case. I’m not sure what the reddish item was on the left and I’m still not sure what ‘blind robin’ is. But, fishing is big here, so I’m assuming it is a type of fish?
The back was filled with an assortment of things including rabbit skins, wooden hand toys and coon hats.
After we left the general store, we continue our journey to the lighthouse.
The Mission Point Lighthouse is located at the very tip of the Old Mission Peninsula.
The area has many trees and it is so green and beautiful. We parked and started to walk toward the lighthouse and the shore, which we could barely see through the trees.
This lighthouse guided ships from 1870 to 1933. We entered the lighthouse to see the exhibits and to embark on another ‘first’ for me.
I decided to climb up to the top of the lighthouse – something I have never done before.
There weren’t too many steps to the top, only 35 of them, but they were steep and the last part were ladder steps.
The 360 view was just beautiful!
Climbing back down, I decided to checkout the outside.
A cherry tree was in full bloom in the backyard with the lake in the background.
To be honest, there are a lot of lighthouses along the Michigan coast. We don’t have time to see all of those along our route, so we had to choose a few to see. It was the picture of the side of the Mission Point Lighthouse, which made me want to visit this one. I am so glad we did.
We headed back down the peninsula and on the way, drove by this small painted shack where Michigan maple syrup was for sale.
Payment was done through the honor system where you inserted your money into a modified PVC pipe. My mother bought a bottle.
Along this small peninsula, we passed an interesting marker…
I thought that we were pretty far north, but it turns out that we were only halfway between the equator and the North Pole.
See, you never know what you will learn on a road trip.
After our journey to Old Mission Peninsula, the rest of our day was spent touring the historic downtown area of Traverse City and later we drove up to the quaint town of Petoskey where we did some shopping.
All of the planters in the downtown areas were newly planted with colorful flowers.
While I saw some very creative containers filled with a variety of flowering plants, I was struck by the simplicity of this window box planted with a single row of orange marigolds. The vibrant orange of this flower stands on its own.
One of my favorite shops we visited was called the “American Spoon”, which sells all types of preserves.
I love to make peach, plum and strawberry jam as well as applesauce from the fruit from both my garden and my mother’s – so I was anxious to go inside and taste the different types of jams and jellies they had.
While I did taste some delicious fruit preserves, there was also a large selection of salsas, including pumpkin seed salsa and cherry salsa.
I must admit that I didn’t try any – I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to my salsa. But, I realize that I am probably missing out some new flavors that I may love.
Don’t these tomato preserves look delicious?
I came away from the store with cherry preserves, which I will use on my daily English muffin. I also bought some tart dried cherries which I will sprinkle on my salads.
Did I mention that cherries are very popular here? They are growing everywhere you see.
In addition to cherries and asparagus, fudge is also offered everywhere.
I haven’t had any yet, because I am waiting until tomorrow when we travel to Mackinac Island.
I can’t wait!
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We have had a busy start to our upper midwest road trip.
Our journey started with a 4 hour delay in our layover in Denver. Thankfully, it is a nice airport.
We arrive in Grand Rapids and got straight to our hotel and collapsed.
This morning started out with blue skies, dotted with puffy white clouds and a lot of wind.
The hotel shuttle took us to the airport to get our rental car and the driver asked us where we were from. We said Arizona and he got very excited. It turns out that he and his wife are planning on retiring in a few years and want to live in Chandler. So, he was happy to find people who actually knew about the area. He asked us if we would send him a copy of the local paper and told us to use his tip for the postage.
As we do on every road trip, as soon as we get the rental car, we head to the store to get some snacks and supplies.
Our first ‘official’ photo of our trip.
Our plan for the day was to head up to Traverse City by way of Manistee, Michigan. But, our road trips have always been full of unexpected detours.
As we were driving down the highway, we saw signs for Frederik Meijer Gardens. Well, needless to say, we took a U-turn and drove into the parking lot.
Walking up the gardens, you see the large greenhouse dominating the entry.
Gardens in cold climates often have impressive collections of plants that would not survive the cold winters and as a result, a large amount of their collections are grown in greenhouses.
We were able to enter the garden without having to pay an entry fee because this garden had reciprocal membership privileges with the Desert Botanical Garden, of which we are members.
Near the main entry were entrances to different parts of the greenhouse including there arid garden.
I stepped inside to see what types of arid-adapted plants they had.
These are the largest golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii) I have ever seen.
Many of the plants I was quite familiar with and a few are growing in my Arizona garden. You can see a fan in the photo, above, which I am sure they use to keep the humidity levels down.
I did not spend more then a couple of minutes in the arid garden because I wanted to see some plants that were different from home, so I decided to explore more of the garden.
Bachelor’s Button
During my previous travels to the midwest, I have become more familiar with the plants that are grown here. However, many can be grown in my desert garden including bachelor’s button which I’ve grown as a companion plant in my vegetable garden.
There was so much to see in the garden. I headed to the Children’s Garden, the Michigan Farm Garden and passed by the Horse Garden.
No matter where you live, vegetable gardening is much the same with the planting calendar being the main difference.
Lilacs were in full bloom and perfumed the air with their fragrance.
As I was walking from the Children’s Garden to the Michigan Farm Garden, I was startled to see the trees part where a HUGE horse stood, which is part of the Horse Garden.
*To get an idea of how big it really is, to the left of the horse is a navy blue stroller that you can barely see.
I loved the farm garden which depicted a typical Michigan farm of the 1920’s.
While the day was beautiful, it was windy. As I was walking, I heard a young boy say to his dad, “It’s windy today? Do you see a funnel cloud?”
Definitely not something you hear in Arizona.
There was so much to see in the gardens and I took over 200 photos, which I will include in a separate post.
After we left the gardens, we stopped by Robinette’s Apple Haus, which is a family-owned orchard that grows 21 different varieties of apples along with other types of fruit.
They are really into apples 😉
After leaving Grand Rapids, we headed north up the west coast of Michigan toward Manistee.
Before exploring the historic downtown of Manistee, it was time for lunch.
I decided to try a traditional Michigan salad with dried cherries, blue cheese, red onions and bacon with cherry vinaigrette. It was good!
I love the character of old buildings, don’t you?
A small garden was located in the downtown area with various garden sayings. This one was my favorite.
Paralleling the main street was the Riverwalk, which was beautiful. It was nice seeing the drawbridge opening for a large sailboat.
I am always on the lookout for interesting container plantings. But, I was really excited to see this zebrine plant for a different reason. Back in college as a horticulture student, we had to dissect zebrine plants all the time because they showed up so well under a microscope. I know that sounds weird, but I’m a plant lady 😉
While I am not a big shopper normally, I do enjoy shopping when on our road trips. I also love mittens – a lot. These were so cute, but I have no need for them. Fingerless mittens are warm enough for Arizona winters.
After we left Manistee, we drove north toward Traverse City and stopped by the Point Betsie Lighthouse.
We parked right by the beach and heard the waves and wind.
As a Southern California native, I found myself frequently referring to Lake Michigan as the ocean. It is hard to imagine that this is a lake and not an ocean.
The lighthouse is only open on the weekends, so this was as close as we could get, but it was worth it.
Our day ended with dinner in Traverse City where we had some local options for soda flavors…
Have you ever tried ‘Local Northwoods Soda’ or ‘Wild Bill’s Root Beer’?
Tomorrow we are off to explore Traverse City, Petosky and more adventures…
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For the past few years, I leave my husband and kids behind and embark on a road trip along with my mother where we explore a different region of the United States.
We fly into one city, rent a car and several days (and states later) fly out of a different city. I must admit that I love planning our trips and I have a binder filled with our itinerary and places of interest.
We named our first road trip “The Midwest”, which began along the west coast of Michigan. We ended up in Springfield, Missouri with stops in Indiana Amish country and visits to historical Abraham Lincoln sites in Illinois along the way.
What I love about these trips are meeting the people and learning the regional differences in food and culture. For example, who knew that a ‘regular’ ice-cream cone is 3 scoops?
My favorite memory from this trip was walking into our bed & breakfast in Amish country to find the owner entertaining three elderly Amish women who were watching the royal wedding on television.
You can read my blog posts from our first trip here.
Our second trip took us to the Northeast. We began in Columbus, Ohio (where I visited an old friend) and ended in Manchester, New Hampshire. Along the way we drove through West Virginia, eastern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and Vermont.
Memories that stand out for this road trip are visits to my grandfather’s grave outside of Pittsburgh and seeing the graves of my third-great grandparents. Seeing Niagara Falls in person was breath-taking and I enjoyed walking through some small towns in upstate New York. Vermont is a great place to visit and lots of good food – cheese, ice-cream and maple syrup.
You can read my blog posts from our second road trip here.
Last year, our annual road trip found us in the South. Our journey began in Savannah, Georgia and ended in Louisville, Kentucky. Stops along the way included Charleston – South Carolina, Asheville – North Carolina and Tennessee
The special memories that stand out were seeing the colorful window boxes along the historical streets of Charleston and the fabulous kitchen gardens of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Visiting plantations in Georgia and touring the thoroughbred horse farms in Kentucky was so interesting.
We visited a bourbon distillery Kentucky and had a tasting (I learned that I don’t like bourbon) and later visited the first KFC, which has a museum where it all started.
You can read my blog posts from our third road trip here.
I am so excited for our next journey!
Are you curious to know where we are going?
We have named this road trip “Upper Midwest”.
Our journey begins in Grand Rapids, Michigan and will end up in Minneapolis, Minnesota several days later.
For those of you who have followed me for awhile, you know that I like to blog from the road and this trip will be no different.
**Any suggestions of what to see and do along the way would be appreciated!
For more links to previous travel blog posts to places like the Caribbean, California, the East Coast, Florida as well as popular Arizona travel spots – click here.
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Earlier this week, I have been sharing with you about our recent trip into the old, mining town of Bisbee, AZ.
From unique pieces of art, the friendly people, great food and endless stairways, our trip was so much fun.
What I haven’t shown you in my earlier posts are the plants and gardens of Bisbee, which deserve their own post.
Bisbee is located in zone 8a, which is means that it gets about 10 degrees colder then Phoenix and Tucson areas. Because this historic town is also higher in the mountains, it doesn’t get as hot in the summer months.
Much of the plants were the same of what you would see growing throughout central and southern Arizona. Missing were the more tropical plants such as bougainvillea, yellow bells and lantana, which struggle to survive the winters in this area.
The gardens in Bisbee often made use of old, antique pieces that intermingled almost seamlessly among garden plants.
In this garden, the homeowner added a splash of color by using brightly-colored bottles to form an informal border along her raised beds.
Up on her wire fence, she had an old miner’s pan and soup pot hanging from a post.
The Historical Clawson House had a lovely planting arrangement that I particularly liked.
A large swath of flowering coreopsis contrasted beautifully with the gray/blue agave showing us that you don’t need a lot of different types of plants to make a statement in the garden – sometimes less is more effective.
Walking along the main street, I saw the biggest star jasmine vine.
It grew up the metal fence and beyond, hugging this 3-story building. Needless to say, the fragrance was intoxicating.
A brightly-colored building had an unusual pair of container plants.
Spinless prickly pear (Opuntia ellisiana) looked great in half-whiskey barrels.
Continuing our walk through town, I saw a small cafe which had an adjoining garden that can only be described as a grotto.
Where else, but in the desert southwest would you see a prickly pear cactus growing along side a rose bush?
Speaking of roses, I spotted a hedge of pink Iceberg roses in full bloom.
*Iceberg roses are a typically used for providing an informal hedge and they do well in Arizona.
In front of the iconic courthouse, I spotted some flowering ocotillo, so I headed over for a closer look.
I never tire of seeing the vermillion-colored flowers of ocotillo year after year.
My little ocotillo produced its first flower earlier this spring, after 4 years in the ground! It can take while for newly planted ocotillo to flower, but 4 years was a little long to have to wait.
Alongside the ocotillo were santa-rita (purple) prickly pears in full bloom.
Continuing our walk through the historic downtown, I noticed murals painted along the Cochise County Cooperative Extension Building.
In the window of the building were some helpful plant tips.
What a great way to add ‘plants’ to an area where planting live plants isn’t feasible.
This small front garden had a naturalistic planting theme using white achillea with Mexican evening primrose.
A local store did add some live plants by training a pair of vines over the doorway.
As I passed by these large metal doors, I wondered what lay behind them…
I peeked through a crack and noticed a lovely, little garden. I just wish that I could have seen more.
I have always liked small bungalows and their gardens. Maybe I can have one someday when the kids are gone and we need less room.
Here is another bungalow garden filled with purple prickly pear, a white Texas sage and autumn sage.
The city park had a two rain barrels, painted with rainy themes. It was a great way to demonstrate how homeowners can harvest their own rainwater.
**In closing, I would like to say that it isn’t easy traveling with me. I am always stopping and taking small detours in order to take pictures of plants and landscapes.
My husband is always so patient and doesn’t hesitate to carry my purse for me when my hands are busy holding my camera taking pictures.
Another common occurrence when traveling with a horticulturist is having to stop the truck after passing a lovely (or sometimes bad) landscape.
Again, my husband doesn’t complain – he just pulls over and waits while I run out to take a picture.
In this case, it was a lovely metal fence that had small shelves for pots planted with red yucca, to rest on. There were figures sculpted out of metal as well. It was just lovely.
I hope you enjoyed this small tour of the gardens of Bisbee. I cannot wait to return again someday.
Have you ever visited a place that took you a long time to get to?
I’m not talking about how long it takes to travel there but the length of time that you had wanted to visit a place before you finally got there.
I have lived in Arizona for 28 years and during that time have visited the southwestern, western, northwestern, northern, northeastern, eastern and southern areas of our beautiful state.
However, I am embarrassed to say that I have never visited the southeastern part of Arizona. I had wanted to visit Bisbee, AZ for years. So, my husband and I decided to take a trip to Bisbee for our 28th wedding anniversary.
So, we packed our bags and headed out. Our route took us through Tucson and then toward Tombstone, AZ where we had some fun adventures including viewing the “World’s Largest Rosebush”.
You can read about our Tombstone adventures, here.
After leaving Tombstone, we soon arrived in Bisbee.
Bisbee is an old copper mining town.
It has been often described as an old mining town with a European flair.
Bisbee is situated within the Mule Mountains and built into the hillsides.
100 year old buildings have been converted into art galleries, hotels, restaurants and shops.
Bisbee’s existence is due to the now-closed, open-pit copper mine.
As you drive into the historic section of Bisbee, you can view the enormous open pit where they mined for years.
*To get an idea of the scale, look at the buildings to the left of the mine.
It is obvious, after spending a few minutes in Bisbee, that it is a community with many artists.
Concrete walls throughout the town displayed a variety of murals.
This mural was just outside our 100-year old hotel, Canyon Rose Suites, which I highly recommend.
I liked this garden mural of potted succulents along the Cochise County Cooperative Extension Office, which had gardening tips up in the window.
As you walked past some of the art galleries, you could see examples of unique art, like the colorful doorway, across the street.
I walked across the street to see what was used to create this unique doorway…
It was a collection of colorful, plastic shopping bags and recycled bottles.
*Plastic bags are banned in Bisbee and stores charge you 5 cents for paper bags. So, it’s easier to bring your own recyclable shopping bag with you.
We didn’t buy anything for our kids, although I was tempted to buy this ‘zombie miner’ shirt for my son.
I enjoyed seeing the old buildings – some were a bit quirky like this storefront covered in bottle caps.
We passed by this interesting figure made from recycled materials. His body is made from an old propane tank, his legs are made from rebar inserted into coils, the arms are made of rebar with plastic forks stuck to the ends and his head is an old bucket with washers for his eyes.
An empty lot along the main street had some unique pieces of artwork as well with an outdoor living room depicted.
As you can see, it is wise to expect the unexpected when walking through the historical sections of Bisbee.
One evening, we were walking along the main road after dinner, when I noticed something strange on the mountainside…
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting a skull and crossbones. The hotel across the street, had a special light that shone onto the mountainside across the street.
*The next night the skull and crossbones had been replaced by the ‘bat signal’ from Batman fame.
The residents of Bisbee are very friendly and the city proudly marches to beat of its own drummer.
I saw this bumper sticker that I think described Bisbee pretty well.
Because Bisbee is built up on a mountainside, there are a lot of stairways, which have led to an annual event known as “The Bisbee Great Stair Climb” where participants climb 1,000 stairs, distributed throughout different stairways.
Each stairway is clearly designated throughout the city and the number of stairs in each stairway is indicated for tourists who want to try climbing the stairs for themselves.
Here is another one.
This one leads up to the city park and is 127 steps.
This one was the most colorfully painted.
*My husband dared me to climb one of the longest stairways. Click here to see which stairway he dared me to try and if I tried to scale the seemingly endless steps.
Of course, a vital part of a vacation is enjoying good food. We had lunch at the ‘Screaming Banshee’, which served delicious basil pesto breadsticks and great pizza.
We also enjoyed eating at Bisbee’s Table and Santiago’s Mexican restaurants.
Walking through Bisbee is enjoyable, but bring comfortable shoes because you are either walking up or downhill.
Because Bisbee is 5,500 feet up in altitude, we got a good workout walking, which is a good thing because we ate a lot of great food!
As you can see, we had a great time AND I haven’t even shown you the gardens yet!
Come back next time when I show some cute bungalow gardens, roses, cacti, hidden gardens and more 🙂
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Screenshot-2014-05-27-11.48.23-1.jpg748825arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2014-05-28 13:05:002022-11-10 00:18:37On The Road to Bisbee…
Earlier this month, my husband and I traveled to Bisbee, Arizona.
For those of you who have never visited, Bisbee is a fun, quirky place that marches to the beat of its own drummer. I had a great time!
Bisbee, Arizona is an old, mining town built on a side of a mountain. As a result, there are different stairways scattered throughout the historical district. An annual event is held each year called, “The Great Stair Climb” where participants climb the stairways for a total of 1,000 steps.
Tourist are welcome to climb one or all of the stairways at any time of the year.
Each stairway is marked with the number of steps that it has. Some are rather long while others are less so.
This stairway that led up to the city park was 127 steps.
While walking through the historical district, my husband dared me to climb one of the longest stairways.
I don’t think that my husband expected me to climb those stairs – he knows that I am not the athletic type. BUT after 28 years of marriage, I decided to prove to him that I am still full of surprises, so I started up the stairway.
I’m not sure why I took my purse with me.
For those of you who may be scoffing at my labors at this point, I’d like to point out that this photo shot is zoomed in and doesn’t accurately show how many steps I had already climbed.
It was getting pretty difficult at this point and I realized that we were at a high altitude of 5,500 feet, so I was beginning to huff quite a bit.
But, I wouldn’t quit unless I fainted.
I am happy to say that I made it climbing 188 steps!
Can you see my arms raised in victory at the top?
Here is a close-up.
Now I just had to walk down 188 steps.
I must admit that my legs felt shaky when I had climbed down, but I was happy that I had done it and surprised my husband at the same time.
After the climb, we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
Along the way, we passed another stairway and my husband challenged me to climb that one.
Needless to say, I said “NO”.
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Bisbee-002-2.jpg16001223arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2014-05-28 13:00:002022-11-10 00:29:22The Great Stair Climb…
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Road Trip Day 5: Cheese Curds and Horse Racing
azplantlady, Road Trip, UncategorizedYesterday, I mentioned the different ways that the residents of Green Bay honor their football team. Today, as we got ready to leave, we saw a couple more signs of fervent fans.
The breakfast room at the hotel was filled with people wearing Packer football shirts. There was a young boy, about 10 years old, who had prosthetic legs decorated with Green Bay Packer stickers.
Driving through Green Bay, we also noticed that the trash cans in front of people’s homes were green and yellow. Green Bay, Wisconsin is the smallest city that has an NFL team and the residents are very proud of their football team.
We left Green Bay and made our way north to Door County, which is a narrow peninsula that rises above Green Bay. It is dotted with small towns, orchards, dairies and fishing villages.
We spent the morning in Sturgeon Bay visiting the local farmers/craft market and the local museum’s rummage sale.
Have you ever heard of cheese curds? Friends of mine who have visited Wisconsin before, have told me to try cheese curds, which are chunks of solid cheese, which forms from the whey during the cheese-making process. Once the curds form, they are pressed into molds to form cheese.
In the midwest, cheese curds are a popular snack. It is said that they ‘squeak’ when you eat them. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to eat something that squeaks. But, this has been a road trip of ‘firsts’ so I bought some curds at the farmers market.
We spent the afternoon driving south toward Madison, Wisconsin just in time to watch the horse race on television. Sadly, our favorite, California Chrome, did not win, but we did enjoy a simple dinner of food bought at the farmers market earlier today.
A fresh baguette, cheese curds and carrots make a great dinner while watching the Belmont Stakes horse race.
And yes, the cheese curds do ‘squeak’, but they are delicious!
Tomorrow, we are off to explore and I promise to take lots of pictures!
Road Trip Day 4: Bears, Peonies, Packer Fans and Cheese
Road Trip, UncategorizedWe are officially halfway through our road trip through the upper midwest. (Feel free to read about days one, two and three).
When we go on our road trips, not all of our destinations are necessarily known to draw tourists. Sometimes we have to spend the night in an area just because it is on the way to our next destination.
It is during these times that we get acquainted with small towns. I have never lived in a small town – I have lived in suburbs my entire life.
That was where we found ourselves last night – in a small town halfway through the lower part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The only restaurant in town was Bob’s Big Boy and we were greeted by a giant moose dressed as Bob. The food was good and it reminded me of eating at Bob’s Big Boy restaurants as a child in California.
For some reason, there was a moose dressed in another outfit in front of our hotel as well.
This is the view from our hotel this morning. It was cloudy and cold at 41 degrees.
We dressed warmly and left on our way toward Wisconsin and further adventures.
This is the view that we saw from the car 90-percent of the time as we drove through the Upper Peninsula, which is sparsely populated.
As we were driving, I saw a young bear cub romping toward the trees and the beach – pretty cool!
We crossed into Wisconsin and stopped by a small restaurant that is a favorite among locals. As we stepped out of our car, we noticed that the temperature was 40 degrees warmer (81 degrees) then where we had left from that morning.
The food was good, but basic. Bratwursts, hot dogs and burgers made up the menu. You could tell that the restaurant was very popular with newspaper articles posted on the walls, t-shirts for sale and a lot of customers.
When in Wisconsin, you shop for cheese. My husband loves cheese, so I made sure to buy some for him.
There were many types of cheese and while my husband likes trying out unique flavors, I figured that he wasn’t up to having chocolate cheese fudge.
I did end up buying garlic cheddar, smoked cheddar and chipotle cheddar cheeses.
An piece of a tree trunk makes a nice planter for annual flowers at the entrance to the Green Bay Botanical Garden.
As we entered Green Bay, Wisconsin, we decided to visit the local botanical garden.
As my loved ones know, when I am in a garden, I tend to walk off and disappear as I take pictures of plants. Thankfully, my husband and my mother are understanding about this tendency.
Curve your garden paths to add interest and a bit of mystery as to what is around the bend.
As a horticulturist and garden writer, I have a large photo library of plants. Some of the writing I do is not limited to the southwest, but for all regions of the United States. So, I like to take opportunities when I travel to take photos of plants that I will use later.
Lavender Peonies
I have a list of plants that I would love to have in my garden – but that do not grow in my desert climate.
Red Peonies
One of those plants on my list are peonies.
I love their full, ruffled flowers borne above bright-green foliage.
Did I mention that they are also wonderfully fragrant?
Lavender Peonies
The Green Bay Botanical Gardens were filled with flowering peonies in a myriad of different colors.
Maroon Peonies
I have photographed peonies on previous trips, but I’ve never had the opportunity to see so many different-colored peonies in one place.
Peonies bloom once a year in late spring into early summer depending on the variety and climate.
They die back to the ground in winter.
While peonies will grow in most climates, but they need cold temperatures in winter, so they do not grow well in zones 9 and above.
Bleeding Hearts ‘Alba’
Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) are another flowering plant that I would grow, if I could. They love cool, shady gardens.
Their flowers resemble a ‘bleeding heart’, hence their common name. Available in both pink and white forms, this flowering perennial is just lovely.
White Bleeding Hearts
Do you have a bird bath in your garden? I like the simplicity of this stone one.
When visiting botanical gardens, I am always getting new ideas for the garden.
While I have seen trellises created from branches before, I think this is the best one I have seen. The branches are large enough to be able to provide support for climbing plants. Rebar posts are used to anchor the trellis.
I think that I may have to make some for my own garden.
False Indigo (Baptisia australis)
Blue-flowering plants help to visually cool the garden, which can be welcome during the warm summer months.
Blue Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis sylvatica)
Blue flowering plants look great when paired with white, pink or pale yellow plants.
Willow Amsonia (Amsonia tabernaemontana)
From a design standpoint, I like how a strip of blue phlox was planted to divide two separate plantings – don’t you?
Wild Red Columbine (Columbine canadensis)
Wild red columbine was planted throughout the garden, in order to attract ruby-throated hummingbirds, which is the only hummingbird species found in Wisconsin.
As I got ready to leave the garden, I spotted this guy working very hard cutting back the weeds/grass with a brush cutter. The slope was steep and it was a hot day – it made me glad that my garden doesn’t have steep slopes.
*After leaving the gardens, we drove through the city of Green Bay. Now, if you haven’t heard of the fervent fan base of the Green Bay Packers football team, than you must have your head buried in the sand.
Packer Stadium
Spend just a few minutes in the city and it is obvious that they love their football team. How do I know this?
Across the street from the stadium are homes that back up to the street. Without exception, every house has some sort of Packer decoration.
From a decorated gate, a raised deck encircled with etched glass with the Packer emblem and a giant football statue – the neighborhood has it all.
You can even buy cheese in your favorite Packer shape.
*I hope you are enjoying reading about our road trip adventures. Thank you to those of you who have commented!
Tomorrow, we are off to more road trip adventures!
Road Trip Day 3: Mackinac Island, Fudge, Horses and Bikes
azplantlady, Road Trip, UncategorizedWhen friends heard that I was going to Michigan, every single one of them told me that I must go to Mackinac Island.
To be honest, I was somewhat skeptical of whether or not I would like Mackinac Island. I tend to not enjoy what some people would call ‘tourist traps’.
I was hopeful that Mackinac Island would be someplace that I would enjoy. So far, our trip has been filled with fun adventures including a wine tasting and climbing a lighthouse yesterday.
So, we got up this morning, drove to the ferry and took it out to the island – about 20 minutes.
Along the way, our ferry passed underneath the Mackinac Bridge, which is the 3rd largest suspension bridge in the world and spans 5 miles. It is designed to move up to 35 feet in windy conditions – kind of scary sounding to me.
Later in the day, we would cross this bridge by bar, as it connects lower Michigan with the Upper Peninsula and our next destination.
On our way to the Mackinac Island, we passed a smaller island where the Round Island Lighthouse stood sentinel.
I am rapidly becoming a fan of lighthouses!
We started nearing the island and could see the buildings, including a picturesque church and its steeple.
*Pardon the photo quality – I had to take them through the window of the boat.
Our boat landed and we disembarked, anxious to explore the island.
The main street is flanked by Victorian-style buildings filled with shops, restaurants AND stores offering all types of fudge.
Fudge is a really big deal in Mackinac Island. In fact, the people who live on this island refer to the tourists as “fudgies”.
There are over 17 different stores that sell fudge on the island.
*We stopped at one and I picked up 1 1/2 pounds of fudge. I know that is an obscene amount of fudge, but it is easy to get carried away when you read all of the different varieties while the fragrance of fudge is wafting through the air. To justify my large purchase, I bought a 1/2 pound of peanut butter fudge for my husband and a 1/2 pound of regular chocolate for my kids. I’m reserving the toffee fudge for myself.
For those of you not familiar with Mackinac Island, there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. So, everything is brought in by horse or bicycle, whether it is wine or…
Plants!
Just 3 weeks, there was still snow in parts of the island, so the planting season is just getting underway.
It was so interesting seeing plants being hauled in by horse and by…
Bicycle!
Other items we saw being brought in by horses included boxed groceries from the mainland, furniture, merchandise for the stores – basically anything that motorized vehicles deliver to us regular folks.
Even the police rely on getting around on bikes, but they do have a police car they can use in case of emergency.
Firetrucks and ambulances are also allowed to drive the streets of the island.
Having so many horses around, delivering goods and moving people about makes a certain dirty job a necessity…
The next time my son complains about having to scoop up the dog poop in our backyard, I will point that he has it easy compared to this guy.
We enjoyed browsing through the shops along the main street and I found some gifts for my kids.
I didn’t see any store or restaurant chains except for Starbucks, much to my mother’s delight.
Summer has definitely arrived and I loved seeing all of the colorful plantings, including this one using a bicycle. Geraniums (Pelargoniums) and ivy were planted in the front and back baskets.
I am a huge fan of hanging baskets lining a porch or street, but I don’t have any at home, because it can be a struggle because our dry climate makes it hard to keep the roots moist without constant watering more then once a day.
I did love this particular hanging basket, which was made up of pink ‘Wave’ petunias, white bacopa and purple verbena.
Have you ever seen a prettier post office?
I sat down on a little bench in front and wrote post cards to my kids and sent them off.
Even the courthouse and police station put on a floral show with bright-red tulips.
There are many old buildings on Mackinac Island and plaques in front of each describe their historical importance.
I love this old fence – it has so much character, don’t you think?
Fort Mackinac was founded in 1780 and still stands today. It is up on the hill that overlooks the main street of the island.
Here is the back view of the fort.
This beautiful building is the Michigan’s governor’s summer residence.
Like the fort, it too sits up on the hillside. The governor spends a few weeks during the summer there – not a bad deal, I must say.
Probably the most famous place on the island is The Grand Hotel, a 5-star hotel, built in 1887.
It is very fancy, beautiful and expensive.
We didn’t tour the hotel, because of time constraints. But if you want to learn more about this iconic hotel, click here.
To get a real feel for the island, its people and its history – we decided to take a carriage tour. The tour begins downtown, but soon goes up into the more uninhabited areas of the island.
Horses pull carriages full of tourists. The horses resemble Clydesdale horses and are raised by the Amish.
Approximately 80% of Mackinac Island is a state park.
The carriage took us through the beautiful woods of the island and our tour guide was full of interesting information.
Dead trees aren’t removed, despite the fire danger they pose because the island does not have a lot of topsoil. So the fallen trees are allowed to decay, adding organic matter to the soil.
Arch Rock was an interesting limestone formation that we saw along the tour.
I highly recommend going on a carriage tour after spending time on the main street or else you miss a large part of the island’s identity and beauty.
My mother and I had a fabulous time on the island and spent longer there then we had planned.
After returning on the ferry back to the mainland, we picked up our car, headed over the Mackinac Bridge toward the Upper Peninsula, which is not known for the large amount of people who live here. In fact, in the 2 hours we drove from the bridge, we saw few buildings, homes and people.
This is where we are – in a small town in the middle of the Upper Peninsula.
Tomorrow, we will drive through the remainder of the Upper Peninsula to Green Bay, Wisconsin and more adventures!
Road Trip Day 2: Farmers Market, Wineries, and a Lighthouse
azplantlady, UncategorizedDay 2 of our road trip was filled with quite a few firsts for me.
My mother and I are on our fourth annual road trip and this time we are exploring the upper midwest. You can read about day 1 here if you like.
Today, we woke up in beautiful Traverse City, with is located along the western side of Michigan. It is a very popular location for visitors and it was easy to see why.
Our first stop was to visit the local farmers market in the historic downtown area.
Whenever I travel, I like to to take time to talk to the local farmers about their produce and talk about the similarities and differences of growing the same types of vegetables.
Asparagus is really big in this part of Michigan. There are signs for it everywhere along the roadways. In the farmers market, just about everyone had some for sale.
Too bad, I don’t like asparagus 😉
A variety of herbs and vegetable transplants were available for sale. I just love the color of purple basil – I have some growing in my herb container at home.
I love baked goods a lot!
Cherries are grown in the area and you can find cherries in just about everything including salsa.
There were quite a few planted containers filled with flowers ready for eager homeowners.
I really like herb planters like this one.
After the farmers market, we headed up toward the Old Mission Peninsula, which is a small finger of land that extends up from Traverse City. Our destination was to see the Mission Point Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.
What we hadn’t prepared for was the beautiful scenery along the drive. Orchards were filled with cherry trees, one type of fruit tree that does not grow in my desert climate.
Along the way, we spotted numerous vineyards.
The lilacs are in bloom everywhere and this vineyard was flanked by a huge lilac bush.
It’s hard to believe that this barren vine will soon be covered with leaves and sweet grapes.
Then we saw this sign, which led to one of my ‘firsts’.
The sign led us to Peninsula Cellars Winery, whose store is housed in an old, historic schoolhouse.
The inside of the old school was very charming.
I have never been much of a wine drinker. The few times I have tried it, I didn’t really enjoy the taste.
But, I figured if I could do a bourbon taste test on our last trip, I would participate in a wine tasting for the first time.
I tasted four different wines and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked two of them very much.
Many of their wines had a school-themed name due to the old school building. Their ‘Detention’ wine was a popular choice.
*Note: I have never gotten a detention at school.
I came away from my first wine tasting with a new appreciation for wine and a bottle of my favorite to share with my husband when I get home 🙂
As we got back on the road toward the Mission Point Lighthouse, we were told to stop by the old general store.
The Old Mission General Store is one of those places found out in the middle of the country. You can see the lake behind it.
The store had a collection of the old and the new – but mostly old.
Barrels filled with salted peanuts and a variety of old-fashioned candies would make excite any child.
Old-fashioned sodas were offered alongside more current soda choices.
A unique collection of foods were offered in the deli case. I’m not sure what the reddish item was on the left and I’m still not sure what ‘blind robin’ is. But, fishing is big here, so I’m assuming it is a type of fish?
The back was filled with an assortment of things including rabbit skins, wooden hand toys and coon hats.
After we left the general store, we continue our journey to the lighthouse.
The Mission Point Lighthouse is located at the very tip of the Old Mission Peninsula.
The area has many trees and it is so green and beautiful. We parked and started to walk toward the lighthouse and the shore, which we could barely see through the trees.
This lighthouse guided ships from 1870 to 1933. We entered the lighthouse to see the exhibits and to embark on another ‘first’ for me.
I decided to climb up to the top of the lighthouse – something I have never done before.
There weren’t too many steps to the top, only 35 of them, but they were steep and the last part were ladder steps.
The 360 view was just beautiful!
Climbing back down, I decided to checkout the outside.
A cherry tree was in full bloom in the backyard with the lake in the background.
To be honest, there are a lot of lighthouses along the Michigan coast. We don’t have time to see all of those along our route, so we had to choose a few to see. It was the picture of the side of the Mission Point Lighthouse, which made me want to visit this one. I am so glad we did.
We headed back down the peninsula and on the way, drove by this small painted shack where Michigan maple syrup was for sale.
Payment was done through the honor system where you inserted your money into a modified PVC pipe. My mother bought a bottle.
Along this small peninsula, we passed an interesting marker…
I thought that we were pretty far north, but it turns out that we were only halfway between the equator and the North Pole.
See, you never know what you will learn on a road trip.
After our journey to Old Mission Peninsula, the rest of our day was spent touring the historic downtown area of Traverse City and later we drove up to the quaint town of Petoskey where we did some shopping.
All of the planters in the downtown areas were newly planted with colorful flowers.
While I saw some very creative containers filled with a variety of flowering plants, I was struck by the simplicity of this window box planted with a single row of orange marigolds. The vibrant orange of this flower stands on its own.
One of my favorite shops we visited was called the “American Spoon”, which sells all types of preserves.
I love to make peach, plum and strawberry jam as well as applesauce from the fruit from both my garden and my mother’s – so I was anxious to go inside and taste the different types of jams and jellies they had.
While I did taste some delicious fruit preserves, there was also a large selection of salsas, including pumpkin seed salsa and cherry salsa.
I must admit that I didn’t try any – I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to my salsa. But, I realize that I am probably missing out some new flavors that I may love.
Don’t these tomato preserves look delicious?
I came away from the store with cherry preserves, which I will use on my daily English muffin. I also bought some tart dried cherries which I will sprinkle on my salads.
Did I mention that cherries are very popular here? They are growing everywhere you see.
In addition to cherries and asparagus, fudge is also offered everywhere.
I haven’t had any yet, because I am waiting until tomorrow when we travel to Mackinac Island.
I can’t wait!
Road Trip Day 1: Giant Apples, Midwest Cactus and Historic Downtown
Road Trip, UncategorizedWe have had a busy start to our upper midwest road trip.
Our journey started with a 4 hour delay in our layover in Denver. Thankfully, it is a nice airport.
We arrive in Grand Rapids and got straight to our hotel and collapsed.
This morning started out with blue skies, dotted with puffy white clouds and a lot of wind.
The hotel shuttle took us to the airport to get our rental car and the driver asked us where we were from. We said Arizona and he got very excited. It turns out that he and his wife are planning on retiring in a few years and want to live in Chandler. So, he was happy to find people who actually knew about the area. He asked us if we would send him a copy of the local paper and told us to use his tip for the postage.
As we do on every road trip, as soon as we get the rental car, we head to the store to get some snacks and supplies.
Our first ‘official’ photo of our trip.
Our plan for the day was to head up to Traverse City by way of Manistee, Michigan. But, our road trips have always been full of unexpected detours.
As we were driving down the highway, we saw signs for Frederik Meijer Gardens. Well, needless to say, we took a U-turn and drove into the parking lot.
Walking up the gardens, you see the large greenhouse dominating the entry.
Gardens in cold climates often have impressive collections of plants that would not survive the cold winters and as a result, a large amount of their collections are grown in greenhouses.
We were able to enter the garden without having to pay an entry fee because this garden had reciprocal membership privileges with the Desert Botanical Garden, of which we are members.
Near the main entry were entrances to different parts of the greenhouse including there arid garden.
I stepped inside to see what types of arid-adapted plants they had.
These are the largest golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii) I have ever seen.
Many of the plants I was quite familiar with and a few are growing in my Arizona garden. You can see a fan in the photo, above, which I am sure they use to keep the humidity levels down.
I did not spend more then a couple of minutes in the arid garden because I wanted to see some plants that were different from home, so I decided to explore more of the garden.
Bachelor’s Button
During my previous travels to the midwest, I have become more familiar with the plants that are grown here. However, many can be grown in my desert garden including bachelor’s button which I’ve grown as a companion plant in my vegetable garden.
There was so much to see in the garden. I headed to the Children’s Garden, the Michigan Farm Garden and passed by the Horse Garden.
No matter where you live, vegetable gardening is much the same with the planting calendar being the main difference.
Lilacs were in full bloom and perfumed the air with their fragrance.
As I was walking from the Children’s Garden to the Michigan Farm Garden, I was startled to see the trees part where a HUGE horse stood, which is part of the Horse Garden.
*To get an idea of how big it really is, to the left of the horse is a navy blue stroller that you can barely see.
I loved the farm garden which depicted a typical Michigan farm of the 1920’s.
While the day was beautiful, it was windy. As I was walking, I heard a young boy say to his dad, “It’s windy today? Do you see a funnel cloud?”
Definitely not something you hear in Arizona.
There was so much to see in the gardens and I took over 200 photos, which I will include in a separate post.
After we left the gardens, we stopped by Robinette’s Apple Haus, which is a family-owned orchard that grows 21 different varieties of apples along with other types of fruit.
They are really into apples 😉
After leaving Grand Rapids, we headed north up the west coast of Michigan toward Manistee.
Before exploring the historic downtown of Manistee, it was time for lunch.
I decided to try a traditional Michigan salad with dried cherries, blue cheese, red onions and bacon with cherry vinaigrette. It was good!
I love the character of old buildings, don’t you?
A small garden was located in the downtown area with various garden sayings. This one was my favorite.
Paralleling the main street was the Riverwalk, which was beautiful. It was nice seeing the drawbridge opening for a large sailboat.
I am always on the lookout for interesting container plantings. But, I was really excited to see this zebrine plant for a different reason. Back in college as a horticulture student, we had to dissect zebrine plants all the time because they showed up so well under a microscope. I know that sounds weird, but I’m a plant lady 😉
While I am not a big shopper normally, I do enjoy shopping when on our road trips. I also love mittens – a lot. These were so cute, but I have no need for them. Fingerless mittens are warm enough for Arizona winters.
After we left Manistee, we drove north toward Traverse City and stopped by the Point Betsie Lighthouse.
We parked right by the beach and heard the waves and wind.
As a Southern California native, I found myself frequently referring to Lake Michigan as the ocean. It is hard to imagine that this is a lake and not an ocean.
The lighthouse is only open on the weekends, so this was as close as we could get, but it was worth it.
Our day ended with dinner in Traverse City where we had some local options for soda flavors…
Have you ever tried ‘Local Northwoods Soda’ or ‘Wild Bill’s Root Beer’?
Tomorrow we are off to explore Traverse City, Petosky and more adventures…
On the Road To….???
azplantlady, UncategorizedI love to travel.
A lot.
For the past few years, I leave my husband and kids behind and embark on a road trip along with my mother where we explore a different region of the United States.
We fly into one city, rent a car and several days (and states later) fly out of a different city. I must admit that I love planning our trips and I have a binder filled with our itinerary and places of interest.
We named our first road trip “The Midwest”, which began along the west coast of Michigan. We ended up in Springfield, Missouri with stops in Indiana Amish country and visits to historical Abraham Lincoln sites in Illinois along the way.
What I love about these trips are meeting the people and learning the regional differences in food and culture. For example, who knew that a ‘regular’ ice-cream cone is 3 scoops?
My favorite memory from this trip was walking into our bed & breakfast in Amish country to find the owner entertaining three elderly Amish women who were watching the royal wedding on television.
You can read my blog posts from our first trip here.
Our second trip took us to the Northeast. We began in Columbus, Ohio (where I visited an old friend) and ended in Manchester, New Hampshire. Along the way we drove through West Virginia, eastern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and Vermont.
Memories that stand out for this road trip are visits to my grandfather’s grave outside of Pittsburgh and seeing the graves of my third-great grandparents. Seeing Niagara Falls in person was breath-taking and I enjoyed walking through some small towns in upstate New York. Vermont is a great place to visit and lots of good food – cheese, ice-cream and maple syrup.
You can read my blog posts from our second road trip here.
Last year, our annual road trip found us in the South. Our journey began in Savannah, Georgia and ended in Louisville, Kentucky. Stops along the way included Charleston – South Carolina, Asheville – North Carolina and Tennessee
The special memories that stand out were seeing the colorful window boxes along the historical streets of Charleston and the fabulous kitchen gardens of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Visiting plantations in Georgia and touring the thoroughbred horse farms in Kentucky was so interesting.
We visited a bourbon distillery Kentucky and had a tasting (I learned that I don’t like bourbon) and later visited the first KFC, which has a museum where it all started.
You can read my blog posts from our third road trip here.
I am so excited for our next journey!
Are you curious to know where we are going?
We have named this road trip “Upper Midwest”.
Our journey begins in Grand Rapids, Michigan and will end up in Minneapolis, Minnesota several days later.
For those of you who have followed me for awhile, you know that I like to blog from the road and this trip will be no different.
**Any suggestions of what to see and do along the way would be appreciated!
For more links to previous travel blog posts to places like the Caribbean, California, the East Coast, Florida as well as popular Arizona travel spots – click here.
Southwest Garden Tasks: June Edition
azplantlady, desert, UncategorizedJune is here, which marks the official beginning of hot, dry weather throughout the southwest.
While most of us can be found indoors in the comfort of air-conditioning – your plants can be suffering from the heat and intense sunlight.
May and June can be some of the most difficult months for plants in the garden until the summer rains arrive in late June.
Need some helpful tips for your June garden?
Here is my June “to-do” list that I wrote for Houzz.com.
The Gardens of Bisbee
Arizona, Arizona garden, UncategorizedEarlier this week, I have been sharing with you about our recent trip into the old, mining town of Bisbee, AZ.
From unique pieces of art, the friendly people, great food and endless stairways, our trip was so much fun.
What I haven’t shown you in my earlier posts are the plants and gardens of Bisbee, which deserve their own post.
Bisbee is located in zone 8a, which is means that it gets about 10 degrees colder then Phoenix and Tucson areas. Because this historic town is also higher in the mountains, it doesn’t get as hot in the summer months.
Much of the plants were the same of what you would see growing throughout central and southern Arizona. Missing were the more tropical plants such as bougainvillea, yellow bells and lantana, which struggle to survive the winters in this area.
The gardens in Bisbee often made use of old, antique pieces that intermingled almost seamlessly among garden plants.
In this garden, the homeowner added a splash of color by using brightly-colored bottles to form an informal border along her raised beds.
Up on her wire fence, she had an old miner’s pan and soup pot hanging from a post.
The Historical Clawson House had a lovely planting arrangement that I particularly liked.
A large swath of flowering coreopsis contrasted beautifully with the gray/blue agave showing us that you don’t need a lot of different types of plants to make a statement in the garden – sometimes less is more effective.
Walking along the main street, I saw the biggest star jasmine vine.
It grew up the metal fence and beyond, hugging this 3-story building. Needless to say, the fragrance was intoxicating.
A brightly-colored building had an unusual pair of container plants.
Spinless prickly pear (Opuntia ellisiana) looked great in half-whiskey barrels.
Continuing our walk through town, I saw a small cafe which had an adjoining garden that can only be described as a grotto.
Where else, but in the desert southwest would you see a prickly pear cactus growing along side a rose bush?
Speaking of roses, I spotted a hedge of pink Iceberg roses in full bloom.
*Iceberg roses are a typically used for providing an informal hedge and they do well in Arizona.
In front of the iconic courthouse, I spotted some flowering ocotillo, so I headed over for a closer look.
I never tire of seeing the vermillion-colored flowers of ocotillo year after year.
My little ocotillo produced its first flower earlier this spring, after 4 years in the ground! It can take while for newly planted ocotillo to flower, but 4 years was a little long to have to wait.
Alongside the ocotillo were santa-rita (purple) prickly pears in full bloom.
Continuing our walk through the historic downtown, I noticed murals painted along the Cochise County Cooperative Extension Building.
In the window of the building were some helpful plant tips.
What a great way to add ‘plants’ to an area where planting live plants isn’t feasible.
This small front garden had a naturalistic planting theme using white achillea with Mexican evening primrose.
A local store did add some live plants by training a pair of vines over the doorway.
As I passed by these large metal doors, I wondered what lay behind them…
I peeked through a crack and noticed a lovely, little garden. I just wish that I could have seen more.
I have always liked small bungalows and their gardens. Maybe I can have one someday when the kids are gone and we need less room.
Here is another bungalow garden filled with purple prickly pear, a white Texas sage and autumn sage.
The city park had a two rain barrels, painted with rainy themes. It was a great way to demonstrate how homeowners can harvest their own rainwater.
**In closing, I would like to say that it isn’t easy traveling with me. I am always stopping and taking small detours in order to take pictures of plants and landscapes.
My husband is always so patient and doesn’t hesitate to carry my purse for me when my hands are busy holding my camera taking pictures.
Another common occurrence when traveling with a horticulturist is having to stop the truck after passing a lovely (or sometimes bad) landscape.
Again, my husband doesn’t complain – he just pulls over and waits while I run out to take a picture.
In this case, it was a lovely metal fence that had small shelves for pots planted with red yucca, to rest on. There were figures sculpted out of metal as well. It was just lovely.
I hope you enjoyed this small tour of the gardens of Bisbee. I cannot wait to return again someday.
On The Road to Bisbee…
On The Road to Bisbee…
Arizona, azplantlady, UncategorizedHave you ever visited a place that took you a long time to get to?
I’m not talking about how long it takes to travel there but the length of time that you had wanted to visit a place before you finally got there.
I have lived in Arizona for 28 years and during that time have visited the southwestern, western, northwestern, northern, northeastern, eastern and southern areas of our beautiful state.
However, I am embarrassed to say that I have never visited the southeastern part of Arizona. I had wanted to visit Bisbee, AZ for years. So, my husband and I decided to take a trip to Bisbee for our 28th wedding anniversary.
So, we packed our bags and headed out. Our route took us through Tucson and then toward Tombstone, AZ where we had some fun adventures including viewing the “World’s Largest Rosebush”.
You can read about our Tombstone adventures, here.
After leaving Tombstone, we soon arrived in Bisbee.
Bisbee is an old copper mining town.
It has been often described as an old mining town with a European flair.
Bisbee is situated within the Mule Mountains and built into the hillsides.
100 year old buildings have been converted into art galleries, hotels, restaurants and shops.
Bisbee’s existence is due to the now-closed, open-pit copper mine.
As you drive into the historic section of Bisbee, you can view the enormous open pit where they mined for years.
*To get an idea of the scale, look at the buildings to the left of the mine.
It is obvious, after spending a few minutes in Bisbee, that it is a community with many artists.
Concrete walls throughout the town displayed a variety of murals.
This mural was just outside our 100-year old hotel, Canyon Rose Suites, which I highly recommend.
I liked this garden mural of potted succulents along the Cochise County Cooperative Extension Office, which had gardening tips up in the window.
As you walked past some of the art galleries, you could see examples of unique art, like the colorful doorway, across the street.
I walked across the street to see what was used to create this unique doorway…
It was a collection of colorful, plastic shopping bags and recycled bottles.
*Plastic bags are banned in Bisbee and stores charge you 5 cents for paper bags. So, it’s easier to bring your own recyclable shopping bag with you.
We didn’t buy anything for our kids, although I was tempted to buy this ‘zombie miner’ shirt for my son.
I enjoyed seeing the old buildings – some were a bit quirky like this storefront covered in bottle caps.
We passed by this interesting figure made from recycled materials. His body is made from an old propane tank, his legs are made from rebar inserted into coils, the arms are made of rebar with plastic forks stuck to the ends and his head is an old bucket with washers for his eyes.
An empty lot along the main street had some unique pieces of artwork as well with an outdoor living room depicted.
As you can see, it is wise to expect the unexpected when walking through the historical sections of Bisbee.
One evening, we were walking along the main road after dinner, when I noticed something strange on the mountainside…
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting a skull and crossbones. The hotel across the street, had a special light that shone onto the mountainside across the street.
*The next night the skull and crossbones had been replaced by the ‘bat signal’ from Batman fame.
The residents of Bisbee are very friendly and the city proudly marches to beat of its own drummer.
I saw this bumper sticker that I think described Bisbee pretty well.
Because Bisbee is built up on a mountainside, there are a lot of stairways, which have led to an annual event known as “The Bisbee Great Stair Climb” where participants climb 1,000 stairs, distributed throughout different stairways.
Each stairway is clearly designated throughout the city and the number of stairs in each stairway is indicated for tourists who want to try climbing the stairs for themselves.
Here is another one.
This one leads up to the city park and is 127 steps.
This one was the most colorfully painted.
*My husband dared me to climb one of the longest stairways. Click here to see which stairway he dared me to try and if I tried to scale the seemingly endless steps.
Of course, a vital part of a vacation is enjoying good food. We had lunch at the ‘Screaming Banshee’, which served delicious basil pesto breadsticks and great pizza.
We also enjoyed eating at Bisbee’s Table and Santiago’s Mexican restaurants.
Walking through Bisbee is enjoyable, but bring comfortable shoes because you are either walking up or downhill.
Because Bisbee is 5,500 feet up in altitude, we got a good workout walking, which is a good thing because we ate a lot of great food!
As you can see, we had a great time AND I haven’t even shown you the gardens yet!
Come back next time when I show some cute bungalow gardens, roses, cacti, hidden gardens and more 🙂
The Great Stair Climb…
Arizona, UncategorizedEarlier this month, my husband and I traveled to Bisbee, Arizona.
For those of you who have never visited, Bisbee is a fun, quirky place that marches to the beat of its own drummer. I had a great time!
Bisbee, Arizona is an old, mining town built on a side of a mountain. As a result, there are different stairways scattered throughout the historical district. An annual event is held each year called, “The Great Stair Climb” where participants climb the stairways for a total of 1,000 steps.
Tourist are welcome to climb one or all of the stairways at any time of the year.
Each stairway is marked with the number of steps that it has. Some are rather long while others are less so.
This stairway that led up to the city park was 127 steps.
While walking through the historical district, my husband dared me to climb one of the longest stairways.
I don’t think that my husband expected me to climb those stairs – he knows that I am not the athletic type. BUT after 28 years of marriage, I decided to prove to him that I am still full of surprises, so I started up the stairway.
I’m not sure why I took my purse with me.
For those of you who may be scoffing at my labors at this point, I’d like to point out that this photo shot is zoomed in and doesn’t accurately show how many steps I had already climbed.
It was getting pretty difficult at this point and I realized that we were at a high altitude of 5,500 feet, so I was beginning to huff quite a bit.
But, I wouldn’t quit unless I fainted.
I am happy to say that I made it climbing 188 steps!
Can you see my arms raised in victory at the top?
Here is a close-up.
Now I just had to walk down 188 steps.
I must admit that my legs felt shaky when I had climbed down, but I was happy that I had done it and surprised my husband at the same time.
After the climb, we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
Along the way, we passed another stairway and my husband challenged me to climb that one.
Needless to say, I said “NO”.