Ohhhhh, it's magic

Our neighbor gave us a cherry tomato plant that someone gave her. It had been grown from seed, and was a pretty awesome gift, but she didn't have a good sunny place to plant it. We had been waiting until we had our garden bedsready for planting. Now we're ready, essentially, but the plant has developed some peculiar spots and some yellowing that make me a little concerned about adding it to the rest of our carefully selected seedlings.

This Utterly Novice Gardener got a little overwhelmed when trying to look it up in some tomato disease books and online, so I took a couple digital pictures, pulled off a leaf, and drove the girls to our local extension office after Nora's nap today. For $2, I was able to explain what limited information I had about the plant and I should get a diagnosis back within a couple of days. Awesome.

While we were there, we wandered the display gardens. WOW! All three of us concurred that we must come back to this place, and soon. There were already miraculous little buds and blooms throughout the garden-- I can only imagine what a riot of color and scent the place must be in the summer! It has woodland, culinary, medicinal, cottage, pastel, cutting, and children's gardens, and many, many more. I'm not the only one who was enchanted-- the girls were quite taken with the place and were planning the people they wanted to bring back (and proposals of when) before we ever left the place. They scampered and jumped and crumpled up into small heaps to be able to scrutinize tiny out-of-the-way details. They were as much a delight to view as the gardens themselves. One of their annual plant sales is tomorrow during Nora's nap. We may have to window shop a little bit more.