Since it was such a beautiful fall day, my boss this past Friday suggested our office go out and grab lunch at Flour in downtown Des Moines near the statue park and then head over to the Meredith Test Gardens. First of all, I had never heard of Flour Pizza so instantly thought it was “Flower”. “How odd for a name,” I thought. Ha! Anyway, I found out Flour’s speciality is pizza although there are other items, and it is only open for lunch. They have the pizza out to look at which is nice, and you order the slice you want, and they cook it for you. The crust is really good thick crust so one slice is enough. I also ordered a side salad of greens in a champagne vinaigrette. I wish I had thought to take a picture. Anyway, off we went with lunch in tow to the Meredith Test Gardens.
From May through September you can tour the gardens on Fridays from noon to 2 and it is a perfect place to eat lunch on a beautiful day. For those of you that don’t know, Meredith Corporation is the company that publishes Better Homes and Gardens magazine among a lot of other publications. How I wish I could pick the entire gardens up and insert into my backyard! Of course, I’d want the gardener too! As you can see, the entrance is not real welcoming, but as you round the corner, you are greeted with the fountain that I put at the top of the blog.
We ate lunch at the tables right by the fountain and then walked around the gardens and enjoyed them.
They had all these little areas where you could also sit. Some had tables like this one where you could eat if you wanted more privacy.
The lavender smelled really good! In the below picture, I just felt so happy and they made me smile as I looked at them.
Then as you leave the gardens, the below picture is the last plants you see flanking the exit out.
Next year, now that I know about these gardens, I will go back seasonally because I think it would be fun to see the different flowers in different seasons.
Jody's Journeys 