Tuesday, September 2, 2014

We drove to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT for the first time (the third attempt was a charm).  We tried to see it when we stayed in Salt Lake City in May but it did not work out then.  There are several attractions at Thanksgiving Point, but we started with the Gardens.  Just walking from the car to the door was a pleasure, with so many varieties of flowers it was amazing.  They have a total of 55 acres of manicured gardens with some of the most unique and colorful flowers we have ever seen.

Just outside of the Visitor Center is the Grand Allee, a spectacular view down the hill, through the gardens and ending at the Vista Mound with its columns reminiscent of Greek ruins.

Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah is an ASTC member making the gardens free for us.  The other four attractions at Thanksgiving Point are also free with a membership (that will be another day)

The woman at the front desk said we should be able to see all of the gardens in about two hours.  I believe we were there for about fours hours and we did not get to see everything.  It was, of course, impossible to photograph every flower variety but that did not stop us from trying!  

The Creek Garden had some unusual blooms that could not be captured very well.  They were best enjoyed as part of a wider scene.

The Rose Garden was huge, but it was not really prime time for roses, so I captured a panorama of the garden structure and moved on.

Wrapping around a portion of the rose garden was Monet Lake.  From the Koi View Pier, you could get the idea that it might be home to about a million fish.

"Feed me!!!"

We were told there would be some hungry fish in the pond, but you would think these Koi were starving.  The water appeared to boil as people leaned over the rail to toss in feed pellets.

The grasshopper below certainly had a wide variety of colorful plants to choose from for his next meal.  This guy, I dubbed him Jumpin' Jack Grasshopper, was at least 2 and 1/2 inches long.

Utah has a long history of grasshopper invasions that go beyond the norm.

Below is the "Italian Garden" which reminded me of a bunch of cascading bathtubs running downhill.  In Italy, these gardens would be viewed from your Palazzo on the other side of the hill.  They could be viewed from the bottom or from the midway point but there was no meandering through them.  

This was my favorite posy in the whole garden.  Measuring only 1 inch across with a lovely flourish that looks like music flowing from a trumpet.  (Hard as I tried, I could not identify this charmer.)

In the "Secret Garden" below, it was fun to picture it as your backyard until you noticed just how many people were working in the area to maintain the walks and plants.

Constructed of fiberglass and concrete, the man-made falls in the Mountain Garden are the largest in the western hemisphere.  There are 9 separate falls spanning 360 feet.  The highest is 65 feet and together they have a water flow totaling 60,000 gallons/minute (maintained by 6, 125 hp pumps).  This panorama was taken from the amphitheater platform.  Later we walked throughout the "Mountain Garden" along the top of the falls.  Hunger was getting the best of us at that time, so we called it a day and headed off for a late lunch and home to Sam.

Thanksgiving Point Gardens were some of the nicest we have seen and we look forward to a return visit someday.