OKC Saturday – Landscape Architecture 101

Saturday, August 30th all five of us piled into Jeremy's truck and drove to a local nursery, Marcum's. Robin and Jeremy bought a tree to be planted later in the fall and a couple of bushes as base plantings in the area around their front porch.

This nursery is just 2 miles from Robin and Jeremy's house.

While Robin and Jeremy were making their selections and learning about proper shrub care, Frank and I trundled after a very active Autumn so her parents could shop uninterrupted. Since her parents were doing their thing with the plants, Autumn's contribution to the outing focused more on the basics of landscape architecture: layout and pathways, soil composition and good drainage, proper watering, and decorative accents.

There was a raised area with a pathway through it that Autumn found fascinating. Up and down, and up and down, and round and round she went. Periodically she would stop to pick up a soil sample to inspect more closely the quality and size of the gravel.

Autumn was content to hang with Frank and me even when her folks when off to shop.
She enjoyed the adventure of exploring. At times Frank and I had to run to keep up.

It is amazing how interesting a twig or rock can be. Even more so if they are muddy!

After all that soil analysis, I thought it might be a good idea to rinse off her fingers in a nearby fountain. Autumn thought that was a great idea! It was really hot that day and the water feature area was in the shade. Needless to say, more than the her hands got wet.

Autumn needed to experience the water better. This was a serious investigation.
She willingly put Frank in charge of holding her sunglasses and binky.

There are a few speckles of water droplets on the front of Autumn's T-shirt.
She was enjoying just holding her hand beneath the dribble.

Now Autumn's T-shirt and shorts are a much darker color. Hmm. Pretty soggy.
She learned how to swat her hand beneath the water and send it flying!

In order to regain control of the situation, Frank and I decide to give her a ride on one of the carts at the nursery. This was fun for Autumn but most of the pathways were in the sun so the ride was curtailed before too long. We went into a sheltered area with yard decor. I found some reduced price ceramics (cheap -  just in case she broke something and we had to buy it). Autumn really liked some kitty cat statues.

A ride in the sun dried Autumn off a bit.
She was content to sit as long as Frank was moving.

Autumn was surprisingly gentle with the ceramic statues.
She seemed to like the red cat best.

Autumn succeeded in getting her sunglasses on the kitty.

Love at first sight! I caved and the kitty came home with us.

Later in the afternoon Robin, Autumn and I drove out to a toy store in Norman (about 16 miles southeast) to see if I could get a replacement puzzle for Alex but I was unsuccessful. We did get Autumn a toddler size dust pan and broom. She was happy she could imitate her mom and dad. Jeremy cooked a great spaghetti dinner and we chilled the rest of the evening.