Longwood Gardens

 Longwood Gardens, located about 30 miles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a gorgeous collection of flowers situated on 1077 acres of land.  (Only 325 acres are open to the public.)  There are twenty indoor gardens, housed in a conservatory which contains 5,500 types of plants.  There are also 20 outdoor gardens featuring exquisite flowers, trees, and dazzling fountains.



Longwood Gardens has a very rich history.  Over two hundred years ago, the land was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Indians.  In 1700, a Quaker family purchased the property from William Penn (the guy Pennsylvania is named after) and established a farm there.  In 1906, Pierre du Pont, the famous industrialist, purchased the property and created what is enjoyed today.  In 1946, the Gardens were turned over to a foundation set up by Mr. du Pont.

  

One of the gardens is the Bee-aMazed children's garden.  It features a tree house, a Honeycomb Maze, Flower fountain, and Buzz Trail.  Kids can learn about bees and the various parts of a flower through these interactive features.



The Gardens are open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.  Admission for adults is $18.00.  Admission for children is $8.00.

Here's where I am on this last day of my blog tour:

At Crystal's Book Reviews where you can read an excerpt and enter for the giveaway.

At Mason Canyon's Blog with a book review and a chance to win a copy of the book.  (Mason Canyon organized my tour. She did a really nice job! If you are an author and don't have the time to organize your own blog tour, I recommend her services. Also, she is celebrating her nine-year blogversary. so please stop by and congratulate her.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

 The Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens are located in Richmond, Virginia.  These gardens are simply amazing.  In fact, they are the winner of the 2011 National Medal for Museum and Library service.

  The history of the gardens is interesting.  They are on property that was once the hunting grounds for the Powhatan Indians.  The land was also owned by Patrick Henry.  In 1884, Lewis Ginter purchased the land.  In 1913, Ginter's niece, Grace Arents, developed gardens on the property.  It was her desire that when she and her partner died, the land be given to the city of Richmond to be developed as botanical gardens, honoring Lewis Ginter.  In 1968, the city took over the property, but the gardens didn't come to fruition until 1981.

The children's garden is one of the best I've seen.  There are about eight different areas where children can learn about the natural world.  One neat feature is the International Village.  There are playhouses and plants that represent cultures from all over the world.  There's a "tukal" African shelter, a Latin American "casista," and a Native American longhouse.  There's also an Asian teahouse and an "everyone's house," where kids can design their own place.

 

 The Farm Garden consists of six 20 x 20 plots where kids can plant and harvest their own vegetables and fruit.

Other features include the water play area, a bird and butterfly meadow, a super-fun tree house, a children's greenhouse, and a section of weird and contrasting plants.  The gardens are open daily from 9 am-5 pm.  Admission is $11.00 for adults, and $7.00 for children.

 

In other news, my book tour for Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China continues. Here are the stops from this week:

Book Review at J. Bronder Book Reviews

Guest post about doing school author visits at Writers and Authors Blog

Opportunity to enter a win a copy of my book:  Celtic Lady Reviews

Interview at Literary Rambles

Leila Arboretum

Leila Arboretum is located in Battlecreek, Michigan.  It's a place with a lot of history!  Battlecreek is known as "cereal city" because cereal was first invented there by Dr. Kellogg in 1894.  The Leila Arboretum dates back to 1922, when Leila Post Montgomery, wife of the big cereal businessman, C. W. Post (of Post cereal), donated 72 acres of land to the city.  In 1924, landscape architect, T. Clifton Shepherd, designed the gardens.

 

There is a wonderful one-acre children's garden that you'll want to visit, if you have kids.  It features five different sections.  The first is the Healthy Me garden.  It has a big red bowl filled with various salad vegetables.  A huge spoon and fork stick up out of the bowl.  There are also four mini gardens surrounding the bowl:  a pizza garden, a spa garden (growing in a bathtub), a top 10 veggies garden, and an healing herb garden.



There's a Cereal Bowl garden that tells all about the history of the city, and how cereal is made.  The Four Winds garden was designed by local Potawatomi Indians, and it gives the Indians' plant and color representations of the four directions, North, South, East, and West.  One of the most popular features is the Rain and Shine Friends/ABC garden.  It features a giant balloon (pictured above) where kids can step inside and pretend that they're soaring over the gardens.  There's also a feature where kids can be a human sundial.  I really like the ABC garden.  There are plants for every letter of the alphabet.  Finally, there's a Cupola Science Plaza where kids can learn about how plants contribute to science.

 Leila Arboretum is open daily from dawn to dusk.  Admission is free.

Before I go, I'd like to let you know that my blog tour is continuing. I'm at Julie Flander's blog. Please stop by to read an excerpt from my book, Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China and enter to win a copy.

Ithaca Children's Garden

The Ithaca Children's Garden, located in Ithaca, New York, was founded in 1997.  It covers three acres and features an assortment of gardens.  One of the most notable attractions is a 30 foot by 60 foot snapping turtle named Gaia (from mythology, Gaia is Mother Earth).  On its back is a lunar calendar.

  

Other features include a Straw-bale Troll House, Wetlands, an edible garden where kids can harvest their own fruits and vegetables (like strawberries and asparagus), a Sod Salamander (and other sod sculptures), a meadow with lovely flowering perennials, a labyrinth, a bird habitat, and a large pin-oak tree, affectionately called the "reading tree."The gardens are open daily from dawn to dusk.  Admission is free.

I'm continuing my online book tour to promote my book, Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China. Today's stop is at Bookworm for Kids blog. Please stop by to read an excerpt from the book and enter to win a copy.

In case you're interested, yesterday's stop was at The Story of a Writer. You can enter to win and read a different excerpt there.

Green Bay Botanical Garden: Gertrude B. Nielson Children's Garden

Opened in 1996, the Green Bay Botanical Gardens in Green Bay, Wisconsin, contain forty-seven acres of gardens and natural areas that showcase Wisconsin's seasonal beauty.     

Within these forty-seven acres is the Gertrude B. Nielson Children's Garden.  It covers only a half an acre, but there are so many neat things for kids to do.  Some of the fun features include a tree house, a slide, a vine maze, a re-circulating pond, and a giant sundial.

There are seven gardens within the children's garden where kids can explore natural wonders.  These include the Einstein Garden, Peter Rabbit Garden, Sensory Garden, and Frog Bridge.   
The gardens are open Monday through Saturday from 9-4.  Admission is $7.00 per adult and $2.00 for children.

Before I go, I'd like to let you know that this month, I will be doing an online blog tour to promote my book, Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China. The stop on October 5th will be at Writer's Gambit .If you have a minute, please stop by and visit.