A Rose may be a rose, but what's that?

After the Parays left, it rained for the next two days.  On Saturday Chris did manage to get the last 8 cu. yds. of mulch down in the yard between with some help between the heavy rains.  Come Sunday, we all needed a diversion/break.  So I decided we should go check out the JC Ralston Arboretum at NC State.  It turned out to be just the thing.

We avoided visiting in the past because of concerns over the "Rules of Etiquette" posted on the website.  With those type of rules we thought it may not be child friendly but our concern was thankfully unfounded.  Like everything else around here, they we pleasantly laid back and family friendly.  As a bonus admission was also free.

The boys ran ahead with their sister in tow to explore.  Chris and I enjoyed discovering a wide variety of new flowers.  The gardens were extensive, varied and quite beautiful.  We were even able to take some notes from their vegetable gardens of the different varieties of vegetables that seem to be doing particularly well compared to other varieties they were growing.