Quilts and Flowers

Sunday we drove part of the Amish Country Heritage Trail, looking for quilt gardens and murals. Numerous businesses in the area have planted gardens in quilt patterns. In other places, we saw quilt murals on the side of buildings. The quilt gardens were past their prime--the flowers overgrown or past their most vibrant colors. But we enjoyed the tour anyway. The visitor center in Shipshewana gave us a free 2-volume CD that gives the history of the communities along the Heritage Trail. It was very informative and interesting.

We found information sheets and signs explaining the quilt patterns and listing the flowering plants used. I have included copies of the signs where possible. It was difficult to get high enough to see the gardens at times. The first garden we saw was the Menno-Hof logo. Menno-Hof is an organization which explains the Amish-Mennonite story. The garden uses 4,752 flower plants: Boy Yellow Marigolds, Picobella Blue Petunia and Eureka Bronze Leaf Scarlet Begonia.



Just down the street, we came on a Goose Tracks garden.





At a nearby hardware store, we found the Hometown USA garden.





Next we saw the Dresden Plate garden. It was the best one of the day.





We saw one real quilt in a store window. We couldn't go in and look at more quilts. This shop and most businesses in Amish country are closed on Sundays. Anybody else remember when that was true in most of the country? It is kind of nice to have one day of quiet each week and I'll bet most employees love it, too.



We also saw several quilt murals. Most of them weren't identified.







This one uses a Trapunto and Applique style, whatever that is.



I recognize this pattern, double wedding ring.



We also saw a dahlia garden. The flowers are beautiful.









I can't identify this flower or the tree with interesting fruit in the next photo. Anyone know what they are?





This, I know, is a pumpkin patch.



Other scenes from yesterday.