When the Going Gets Tough

Ice coats the streets, sidewalks and cars. Schools are closed. It's time for fantasy travel. Today we visit Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. It's a misty July afternoon and the roses are still blooming. Daylilies and larkspur are thriving. The air is so perfumed and moist that walking through it feels like an instant facial.

After a stroll under the rose arbor into the Japanese garden, you find a little tea shop, sip a cup of Earl Gray and sample a scone or two. Then you wander some more. You snap photos, lots of photos. You gather all sorts of ideas for your garden back home — then you realize that none of them will work because you don't live in the Pacific Northwest. But you feel good just for imagining what might have been.