Grow Your Blog Party with giveaway

Today I am participating in the Grow Your Blog Party sponsored by Vicki at 2 Bags Full. Thanks, Vicki, for doing this. I thoroughly enjoyed the party last year and am excited about this year's party as well.

About Me:

Hi, I'm Beth, and I've been blogging at Beyond The Garden Gate for four years. I'm retired and love that I have free time to pursue my interests of gardening, travel, baking, reading, volunteering, and caring for my pets. I'm a Christian. I live in Iowa and retired from a nursing career three years ago. I have two grown children and two precious grandsons.

 Several years ago, we posed on our front porch.

Good friends and the husband and I on an autumn excursion - I'm wearing the pink and white sweaters

About my blog:

My tag line is "My Garden, My Table, My Life" - and I blog about gardening, tea, cooking, travel, and my pets. I often blog about tea on Mondays and gardening on Thursdays - but this isn't written in stone. In the winter, it's less about gardening than in spring, summer, and fall as I live in a climate where we do not garden outside in December, January, and February - too cold and snowy!

Beth's garden:

We have a 1/2 acre suburban lot. Most of the backyard is garden (cuts down on the mowing and gives me room to try new plants every year). 

 I am in love with coneflowers!

 Early spring brings daffodils - I have hundreds of them in my gardens.

 I grow nigella...

 ...and lupines.

 Pale pink hollyhocks

 I grow lilies (these are Stargazers),

 as well as daylilies.

'Janice Brown,' pictured above, is a favorite.

 I adore Clematis 'Josephine.'

I like roses too.

Beth likes tea:

 Here I am at Shay's Tea Room. Two photos below, the food and drink at Shay's.

 Tea at my house, using 'Rose Chintz' by Johnson Brothers

 Cooking: Beth's Cakes:

A decorated cake - wrap it up!

 I took a cake decorating class a couple of years ago. These are some of my beginning efforts.

Fondant, pretty in pink

Beth's travels:

 Australia - trip of a lifetime!

 Las Vegas - great fun with a great friend!

Mackinac Island, a truly amazing place

 Rocky Mountain National Park - Estes Park, Colorado

 More RMNP

 I love flowers! Here I am at Tulip Time in Pella, Iowa.

Sunset on the prairie, Kansas

I enjoy showing off pretty pictures, and telling you all about my adventures in gardening, tea, and travel.

Looking for more of what this blog is about?

Click here and here to see my 2013 year in review (pets, tea rooms, my garden, etc).

Or, to view a garden post entitled, "The Day 500 People Walked through my Garden," click here.

Or, to view a recent tea post, "Tea As Art," click here.

AND NOW - DRUMROLL PLEASE - FOR MY GROW YOUR BLOG PARTY GIVEAWAY:

I'll be giving away a $15 Starbucks gift card. Here are the giveaway rules: Simply leave a comment on this post. A winner will be selected on February 15th using Random.org. The winner will have 10 days to respond with an address for me to mail the gift card to; if no response within 10 days, another winner will be selected.

Good luck, and thanks so much for visiting my blog! Be sure to visit party host Vicki at 2 Bags Full, where you can enjoy her posts as well as find many other blogs to visit and maybe even sign up to follow. 

If you like what you've seen here, I'd appreciate you becoming a new follower through Google Friends Connect, Linky Followers, or signing up for post delivery through e-mail.