Kim's pond and garden were next on the tour. Kim is known as the Ace Garden Girl, and she is the garden consultant for Merritt Island Ace Hardware. I visited her place last year on the tour, and took a ton of photos you can view HERE. There is so much more than I'll show you here today. Be sure to check it out.
I was fascinated by the passion flowers , especially the red one above. Here's another one. It climbs around the swing near one of Kim's ponds. It is a lovely and cool, shady spot to sit a spell. You need it when you visit this garden.
Kim's place is several acres, with many different "garden rooms", each with a different theme. She's been working on this beautiful acreage since 1978. She does this labor of love in addition to working with Ace Hardware's garden department. She loves gardening and loves to share information with visitors.
I took many photos last year of the ponds, so be sure to check them out in last year's post. I love this bit of whimsy in the natural pond. Could it be Nessie, the Loch Ness monster on vacation here in Florida?
In addition to this pond, Kim has a 3,000 sq. ft. enclosed koi garden. It includes a 20,000 gallon koi pond surrounded by smaller ponds, with a beautiful collection of plants and pottery. There is also a 5,000 gallon "hippo" pond filled with water lilies. (pictures are in last year's post).
Since I'd already taken so many pictures of the ponds last year, I decided to photograph some of the plants and flowers this time. Be sure to click on the link above to see those photos. I love how Kim puts color groupings together, like this one near the natural pond, with shades of purple and blue.
These are purple passion flowers. She also had some white ones, but I guess I didn't take picture of those.
The purple is common here in our area, and grows wild. The plant is medicinal, and the fruit is edible.
Here are some pretty red groupings.
As we meandered through the beauty, we discovered Kim's donkey. My grandson loved this.
Gardenias are one of my favorites, and the aroma was heavenly.
More beauty.
We were all getting tired (especially my grandson) after touring Kim's garden, so we decided to break for lunch. We'd been going strong since 8:00 a.m., believe me by mid-day, the heat was killer. We were trying to get in as much as possible before the afternoon rains set in.
I still have much more to show you, so come back by next week.
Thankful Thursday is my weekly discipline - to express my gratitude to Hashem for His over-flowing, abundant blessings.
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I'm linking up today with:
Spiritual Sunday
The Gathering Spot Link-Up
All Things Bright and Beautiful Link-Up
Modest Mom Monday Link-up
A Wise Woman Builds
Whole Hearted Wednesday
Wake Up Wednesday
Hearts for Home
Favorite Things
Fab Creative Friday
Friendship Friday
Freedom Friday
