A Look at Linton's and the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail

There's a new sign along the Indiana Toll Road and the bypass...."attraction-Linton's Enchanted Gardens". Must be a pretty special place to get an Indiana tourist attraction plug, and it is.....Linton's Enchanted Gardens is 50,000 square feet of indoor shopping for all things home and garden, and 9 acres of outdoor specialty gardens.

The indoor garden/home shopping center has different themed areas like the "beach"...."modern or contemporary".

They have personal care items....gourmet foods and sweets....handmade candies....jewelry...women's fashion accessories and really unique gifts for the home. Their floral shop was voted "the BEST" by locals.

It's all here, everything you could possibly want in the way of suggestions for personal gifts for the home, garden, yard and for an individual. Lots of cool clocks, paintings, signs, and many useful tools and items that would make great gifts.

Sparky liked the funky fountains they had...

Linton's calls themselves the "Disney of garden centers" and as you walk around outside, you can definitely see why....Lots of unique little buildings with specialized plantings surrounding the building to fit the style of the buildings on the outside nine acres...Sparky wasn't quite sure of the planting theme around this spooky looking house.

How about this UFO? With a sign that said "unusual flowering objects"...Linton's specializes in unique plants that you can't find anywhere else along with the usual, extensive selection of landscape plants and flowers.

Sparky LOVES flowers, and now that she has a home, she was especially interested in looking at the flowers she used to grow and at some that she wished she COULD have grown. Like the Pee Gee Hydrangea....These blossoms were HUGE!

Sparky's favorite lily, the Stargazer lily.....

There was a little fairy garden, and everything around the little stone house was miniature plants. Kinda cute! Sparky remembered that one of the gals she met at Sun 'n' Fun, one of the long term residents, who had a SERIOUS interest in fairy gardens and had at least four of them surrounding her rig.

Sparky always likes looking at how plants grow, and this leaf bud, getting ready to erupt into a BIG leaf, captured her iphone camera for a moment.

Pergolas, arbors, benches and statues...Linton's has it. Gardening advice, landscaping services, FREE landscaping design service, a big aviary, ponds, and a petting zoo. Gee, what DON'T they have? Sparky couldn't think of a darn thing after touring the place today. If you love flowers and enjoy deluxe nature garden centers and want to get some inspiration for your home, Sparky highly recommends Linton's Enchanted Gardens, on County Road 17, in Elkhart, IN.

There is really a LOT of stuff to do in the Elkhart, IN area...Sparky went for one last ride on the Pumpkinvine Trail by herself today....

There are many different trailheads or starting points for this beautiful trail...some of it is through heavily shaded woods, other parts are out in the open along farms, and Amish country, other parts are through gardens like the Krider World's Fair Garden and Nursery, and residential areas. Some parts are really level, others will give you a nice little workout with some gentle hills. There are beautiful wildflowers and perennials along the way, too. Like these rudbeckia, otherwise known as black eyed susans to most.

Lots of Echinacea, or purple coneflowers on this leg of the trail....People take echinacea in pill form for colds and other ailments. Sparky just likes to look at them...

Well, time to head back from the trail ride...

Gonna have to start thinking about packing up the car and emptying out what's left of our personal stuff in the rig....sniff, sniff...We'll see you later.....