On Saturday, we celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday with a trip to the Des Moines Botanical Gardens. I’ve lived in Des Moines for almost eight years and driven by the large dome visible from 235 countless times, but I’ve never visited until now. Everyone in my husband’s family loves plants and gardening, with him being a landscape architect by day (and grill aficionado in his spare time), and my sister-in-law an avid gardener in charge of the family garden center.
We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful afternoon and we began our visit with lunch on the patio of Trellis. The food was fresh and plentiful with a view of the spectacular water gardens.
Afterwards, we toured the indoor tropical gardens before making our way outside to meander through the lush perennial and annual plantings.
I love plants myself, particularly tropical houseplants and perennials, but I don’t know very much about planting them or keeping them alive. I’ll leave that to the experts.
My favorites, of course, were the large tropicals like the split leaf philodendron and fiddle leaf fig as well as the rex begonias.
This flower dripped down from an interesting vine growing up and over a trellis.
I’d never seen a hibiscus with coloring as dramatic as this one.
I can definitely see myself returning to the Botanical Gardens during the winter months to help alleviate my seasonal affective disorder and feel like it’s summer again for a little while at least.
Later that evening, we went out to my father-in-law’s for a dinner and a swim. I couldn’t resist the obligatory puppy photos, since they’re so good at posing.
Booker’s sister lounging poolside…
And Booker in the grass at sunset…
These late summer evenings in the 70s and low 80s are so pleasant and enjoyable. Here’s hoping the heat stays away, and the mild days continue.
