Grapevine Botanical Gardens - Cool in the Shade

Today I got to visit one of my favorite places on earth: the Botanical Gardens in Grapevine. My dentist is in Grapevine and I drove by the post office to drop off some packages before my appointment. On the way to my dentist’s office, I saw the Botanical Gardens and decided to stop in.

What a surprise: it was almost cool in the shaded areas, so with my bottle of water and camera in tow, I walked around. I found the most beautiful (and accommodating) butterfly, which flitted and fluttered around and allowed me to snap 20 pictures of it before it said, “OK, enough, already!” I snapped some beautiful flowers, too.

This place is particularly special to me because it’s the scene of my wedding to my husband Steve. Just over 8 years ago, we asked our daughters if they wanted to go out to dinner and told them we had a short stop to make. Steve ran into Tom Thumb to get some flowers and handed them to Meagan, our older daughter and we drove to the Botanical Gardens.

Once there, we were met by our friends Jim and Carol, who had been our teachers at the marriage class (well, BEFORE- Marriage Class) we had taken at Fellowship Church in 2001. Jim is also an ordained minister and he was thrilled to perform the ceremony. Carol stood by and took lots of pictures and then mailed them to us a few days later. They are really sweet people.

After the brief ceremony, attended only by Carol, Meagan and our younger daughter, Sara, we all went to Red Lobster and had dinner. All in all, a very special day!

I love the gardens, because of the transformation I’ve seen for that plot of land over the last 27 years. When we moved to Grapevine in 1983, it was a small park with a few trees and a small ravine that was either added for flood control or carved into the land by rain waters.

Over the years, a gazebo was added, as well as koi ponds, walkways and a home on the property was annexed to be a community center for meetings and parties. When we utilized it as the scene for our wedding, it had just undergone a major renovation, with the addition of covered walkways and a few bridges. All in all, it just keeps expanding and growing.

Now, there is wrought iron fencing all around the perimeter of the gardens, leaving the park area open for play and framed by trees for beauty.

Inside the gardens are birds of all types, butterflies, and dragonflies of many varieties. The flowers are every color of the rainbow and the caladiums and special green plants are breathtaking, too.
I sat in one of the covered areas and just snapped a few more photos and took in the color and beauty of nature . . . While in the shade, I tried to snap a small dragonfly, but he wasn’t as patient with me as the butterfly!

I guess the Botanical Gardens remind me of, well, ME! I’ve been transforming myself over the past 15 years, too! With each passing year, I grow and stretch, as I become all that I am to be!