I Wanna Bee a Hippo

The garden of Mike and Donna Fowler in Hutto, Texas makes me want to bee a hippo. 

If were I hippo, I could live in their lovely garden all year long.

On Tuesday, I was invited to go along on a bloggers field trip to the Fowler garden. The Fowler's greeted us like dear friends from the moment we arrived. We made ourselves comfortable on one of their many patio seating areas while we waited for the entire group to arrive.

From this vantage point, I was surrounded by gardens with more gardens beyond the fences.

I knew I was in for a wonderful treat!

Beyond the front garden, our first stop was the vegetable garden complete with an Indian tee pee, a gorgeous bottle tree, and painted ladies on poles that do double duty as hose guides.

In the tee pee, Donna  treated us to a traditional Indian smudging ceremony. Donna lit a smudge stick containing sage and other plants to drive out negative energies. Among the many blessings we received were the abilities of our eyes to see the beauty and our throats to find the right words. Fitting blessings indeed!

At the edge of the garden, gorgeous blue corn flowers jumped out at me. Seeing the beauty in this garden is a super easy task. Everything is beautiful and so far my camera was getting a real work out. 

This sculpture made of glass watering balls is beyond beautiful. Where are the words? Smudging don't fail me now.

The whimsy in this garden tickles my silly-bone. These are fish sticks! Get it!

Gates and the views beyond are a favorite of mine. There are whole coffee table books on the topic. Funny, I have no such views in my own garden. Perhaps that's why I admire them so much when I visit other gardens.

As with any large garden, there are bound to be challenges. To fix drainage issues, a french drain is dressed up as a sparkling dry creek with recycled tumbled glass. The creek runs in segments which seemingly connect to each other throughout the garden.

 

My favorite part of the garden was the smiling hippos.

Hippos are the official mascot of Hutto. Legend has it that a hippopotamus escaped from a circus train passing through town and the high school decided to adopt the hippo as it's mascot. Mike, a published author, tells the story better. 

I just think these hippos are so cute right down to their little painted toesies.

Hippos are officially the cutest garden art ever!

Precious!

"Hahaha! Yep we're pretty cute!"

This hippo's name is Heidi. She is perfectly painted with blue bonnets and has a butterfly on her nose. She looks so happy. Looking at her makes me happy!

Heidi lives nearby this wonderful piece of glass art and adjacent container garden.

Glass prisms were the starting point of this piece constructed by Mike. Like many of his pieces, he uses found objects from Goodwill and other thrift shops.

Bye Heidi. I miss you already.

Many thanks to Mike and Donna Fowler for sharing their garden with us today.