Distinctive Gardens

Yesterday I went to Forreston and met my Master Gardeners’ Book Club members and we went to Dixon.  I was listening to Jethro Tull’s Benefit album on the way and arrived singing at the top if my lungs.

We first ate at Touch of Thai on First Street.  I had Panang Curry and it was one of the best things I have ever eaten.  I shared a bite of the sauce with my fellow bookworms and they all liked it too.  We discussed what kind of herbs and spices were used in Thai cooking.  (Note to self:  look this up.)

We then travelled to Distinctive Gardens after battling with a GPS system that kept hanging up on us.  (I don’t have one of these things and I really don’t want one.  I will continue to get lost and call for help on my phone, thank you very much.)

The garden is very beautiful but not as big as I had pictured it.  They specialize in rare plants.  I had my list in my pocket of the plants that I was looking for.  My search for list included:  mugwort, dittany of Crete, Zinnia linearis and torenia.  I found the torenia but it was not the purple flower that I had hoped for.  I will have to search for the other plants on the internet, I guess.

I do have a package of the Zinnia seeds but they didn’t come up and I must plant them again and take special care of them.  Perhaps I should do this inside by the kitchen sink so I can check on them every moment of the day and night.

The plants on my purchase list included:  Jethro Tull Tickseed Coreopsis (I felt I was destined to purchase it since I had been singing Tull for the past hour), Catalina Pink Torenia, Heuchera x villesa Carnival Limeade Coral Bells, and a Black and Blue Salvia.  The girl at the register warned me that the salvia had aphids and pointed one out that I smashed between my fingers.  I sprayed them all with alcohol water when I got home.

The coreopsis will go out in my flower bed in front of my garden which is a combination of yellow and orange flowers with a bit of pink here and there.  The others will go out into my Fairy Garden which is mostly in shade and has purple and white flowers and lime green plants, here and there.  I will take photos when they are in full bloom.

The garden surrounding the nursery had many lovely displays.  There was a Volkswagon in one bed.  There was a fairy garden on a table.  I loved the brick wall they had created out of a variety of old and used bricks.  In the ceiling of one of their pavilions were white Chinese lanterns and lots of twigs painted white and it was quite lovely.  On the top of one of their little trees a dove had made a nest and ignored all of us coming over and staring.

If you haven’t made the trip to Forreston, you really should go.  It is a lovely drive through Illinois countryside and the villages along the way are quaint and charming.  Do try the Thai.  It still baffles me that in the middle of flat land Illinois there is a Thai restaurant.  It was pretty busy for a Wednesday also.