By Jeanie Merritt

Jeanie Merritt made a morning trip to Diana Daily’s this morning.. and even though she has written her place up before, there are new sights to see!

Approximately four years ago I had heard of a lady near Sunbury, Ohio who lived on a farm and had amazing gardens.  Known for opening up her gardens for scheduled public tours as well as random garden walk-throughs for friends and acquaintances, Diana Daily is the perfect hostess.

Every single trip to her gardens has been an awesome adventure, and every single year I see old favorites as well as newly created points of interest. Diana has a wonderful and creative ability to take old and new objects as well as rusty things, shiny things, and even personal art to enhance the beauty of her surroundings.

As you turn into her driveway, this stump that her son helped make sits right there giving your eyes a feast before you even get through her entry gate!  This just WOW’d me!

Diana Daily and I started out as acquaintances and now we are truly good friends

A new character this year happens to sit at the front gate and welcomes you to the gardens.  Dressed and named appropriately as a farmer, Mac ( you know… Old  MAC Donald  had a farm, eeiii  eeiii  ooooo) says ” Welcome” to all who pass by.

This Fairy House Stump is so intriguing that you may  find yourself looking around to  possibly witness nearby  fairies who just might be lurking in the air waiting to enter their home.  It’s a real tree stump with a charming homemade door and windows. The the tree was cut on an angle and the shingled roof was made by Diana’s son Mark.

Diana is also an accomplished quilter and displays some of her beautiful pieces in one of the gardens most notable attractions, the corn crib gazebo. Shaded and cool with table and chairs to sit and enjoy lunch or a snack, you will feel like wanting to stay all day and never go home. Hanging baskets, cement statues, and of course her quilts adorn the area.

Miniature gardens appear throughout the property in all types of containers and vessels. I especially loved this one created in an old wheel barrow.

A nearby pond is enhanced with a statue of 2 otters playing at the waterfalls edge. Diana found this piece on a clearance sale at a local garden center and knew exactly where it needed to go. The white impatiens that bloom nearby are merely taken out of the container that they were purchased in and pushed back into the crevices of the rock where they happily flourish.

An old part of an abandoned wagon from their farm fits perfectly , nestled between the hosta.

At the end of my tour Diana served me up some homemade rhubarb cobbler in her delightful farm kitchen. As I looked out the window , enjoying my dessert, this was my view.

WHAT A DAY!!!  Thank you, Diana