Back from Indianapolis

Kevin and I spent five glorious days in Indianapolis enjoying a taste of what this fine city has to offer.  I was amazed at how clean and pretty it was.  The natives are friendly and quietly proud of their fair town.  The weather was between 65 and 82F and dry as a bone - such a marvelous relief from our soup of warmth and moisture.  Who knew you could have five consecutive good hair days?

We took a stroll just after we checked in - the displays of container flowers were everywhere.  Can you believe the sidewalk?  Looks as clean as a floor in your house.

A few steps away another pot with a good combo of old and new.

There was a park behind the Hyatt where we stayed.  More pristine perfect public space.

Our favourite garden of the whole tour was the garden that is home to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  There are 26 acres including the Oldfields-Lilly House (oh, and right next door is another 100 acres - the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park).  Not only is the garden beautiful, the breakfast, sponsored by Fiskars, happened to be one of the most delicious - baby bagels and eggs, bacon, salmon, fresh fruit, juices, teas and coffees - I suspect that this was the primary reason why this garden topped Kevin's list.

Everywhere you looked there were thoughtful touches - this was in the Ladies Loo.

Excellent varieties of plant materials along more perfectly pristine sidewalks.

As delicious as breakfast was, we finished quickly to get out to take photos.  Was able to get a number of "empty" photos.

It was the sort of garden where you had to be sure to do a 180 or you'd miss a really good shot.

Lots of good statues.  It would be great to be there over several days to do a photographic study.

And, did I mention they gave us an extra 20% off at the garden shop.  We scored two fabulous hats and a bowl for Debbie and Brian who took care of Bart.  For folks who drove, there was a good selection of unusual wildflowers.  I scribbled a couple of names down hoping I might find seed on this side of the border. 

Kathy Wood from Bracebridge and Ken Brown from Whitby - obviously up to no good.

It was just inside this garden that I re-learned an old lesson - the look, but do not touch lesson....
Here is Patrinia scabiosifolia 'Nagoya'.    Great yellow, good form, very cool bugs on the leaves.

 

Does this not look completely pet-able? 

Apparently not.  It was id'd as a Asp Caterpillar - which gives a furious sting.  Fortunately we let go of the leaf before anything happened. 

But why not tempt fate for a second time - same plant - isn't this a cool little green and brown thingie - yes, it is.  It is a Saddleback Caterpillar and it also shoots poison through it's little hairs - which aren't hairs but tubes.  All that excitement in about 5".  Someone could have really been hurt.  See, even the bugs were nice to us when we were there.

I can only imagine what else might have been lurking in this little paradise.

I wasn't the only one tempting fate - here are some photographers after that perfect Spidey shot.

Sadly it was over all to soon - here's Kevin leading the way back to the bus.  I don't know if I'll ever be back - but if you have the chance to visit - be sure to include this gem during your stay.