The Goddess of Hospitality Invites You to Visit Dragon Gardens on June 20th

John and I are gearing up for our first garden open house on June 20th here on Hallmark Drive. There will be 4 garden tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where we will be showing our gardens and talking on garden planning and propagation. We will be serving refreshments, and plants will be for sale on site, both perennial ground covers and daylilies.


We have been working in conjunction with the Matthews Farmers Market to put on this special event. The market manager, Pauline, did a lovely job on their website advertising the tour. We hope that this will be mutally beneficial in advertising the Market and in helping Dragon Gardens get an established name in the community. (Take a look at http://www.matthewsfarmersmarket.com/ for more details and photos on our event and other activities at the Market.)


A donation of canned or dry goods to Second Harvest Food Bank is your entry fee to our tour. While we take for granted our full cupboards and view our garden as a way to feed our souls, there are folks in the greater Charlotte area that do not have enough food to put on the table tonight for their families. Join us in helping our community as you enjoy our garden.


Please visit the Matthews Farmers Market website to register or email us directly if you'd like to be a part of the history of Dragon Gardens -- our first open house and tour!

Mark's Graduation Weekend

Congratulations, Mark & Jen!

Mark received his Masters of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign last weekend. John and I were in Champaign for the May 16 & 17 festivities, along with Mark's girlfriend, Jen, and his dad, Steve, and wife, Mary Beth. We had a chance to celebrate several meals together and to visit the School of Architecture prior to the convocation ceremony on Saturday.

Atrium at the School of Architecture,

Temple Hoyne Buell Hall

Mark's Thesis Project Boards

"Blending Old and New -

Adapting the Mill Village into

a Craft Institution."

John introduced Mark to Carastar

Mill in Charlotte last summer.

Mark and his advisor took the idea

and molded it into the thesis project.

Mark talking about his project and

how he structured the new building.

Jen in the Studio

Mark's strong drawing skills

Mark shows Mary Beth and Steve

other Architecture Student projects.

On Saturday afternoon we met Mark's roommates, Joe and Dave. Dave's parents, sister and girlfriend came over for a get-together at the boy's Healy Street apartment and a meal at Alexander's Steakhouse, where you do your own grilling. Dave's mom, Nancy, made the boys a cake to mark the occasion -- one last hurrah for the Fighting Illini!

Sunday was the actual graduation ceremony for the School of Architecture. The program included conferring degrees to the Undergrad, the Masters, and the PhD programs. The ceremony was a intimate time for the graduates and their families in Foellinger Auditorium. Everyone was up close to the stage and could see their "star" received their diploma.

It has been a long two years for Mark -- two years of studying and not sleeping, two years away from Jen, two years of living in "student quarters," and two years of having no money! He is hoping that all that will change when he is back in DC this summer. We are proud of his accomplishments and wish Mark success and happiness in the next phase of his life!

Missouri Botanical Gardens - St. Louis

Anne at the Dale Chihuly Gate

John and I stopped by the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis on the way to Mark's graduation at the University of Illinois. You have your choice of flying into Chicago (we've done that), Indianapolis or St. Louis. St. Louis is the longer drive to Champaign, but it had what we wanted to see -- flowers and gardens!

We took an early 7 a.m. flight and were there shortly after the gardens opened at 9 a.m. CST. The gardens are quite well known. They have one of the largest Japanese gardens in the world outside of Japan, and they are very much a scholarly garden with their own publishing company and research library.

So needless to say, we had a great time at the gardens. The weather was very cooperative -- sunny and 80 degrees. We spent the day there walking many miles and having lunch on site. There were several school groups visiting, and some events going on (probably relating to local graduations), but we felt relaxed and enjoyed our time communing with Nature.

Here are the best shots of the day. I won't show you the hundreds that we took. :-)