Iris Garden & Dessert

We went to Schreiners iris garden for the first time today. The garden is only open to the public for a short time during May & June and it is FREE to get in. We picked a beautiful sunshiny day to go. The garden was very well kept with rows speckled with all different colors of irises and other flowers. We walked around and took in the beauty and tranquility of the place. I would recommend this garden to anyone. I've heard that it is pretty popular around Mothers day. Their price for irises are $6 a dozen. They sell the actual plants too, but they're more expensive.

Before our date, I let my husband know that we were going to the iris garden and out for a dessert. He wanted the dessert to be a surprise. So, after we finished walking through the iris garden I asked him to guess where he thought I would be taking him for dessert. He said "Dairy Queen?" I gave no answer, but in my mind I thought "no, we are going somewhere much more unique than that."

As we were driving I turned onto hazel road in the valley. That is when he guessed that we were going to E.Z. Orchards. To give you a little history, we had been to the E.Z. Orchard store before. The store is open year round and they sell produce and food gift items. They are popular for their homemade pumpkin doughnuts sold in the fall, and for their monster shortcakes sold during the summer months.

My husband didn't know that E.Z. Orchards had a shortcake stand in the summer. When we pulled up I let him know that we would be going over to the stand. He read off the sign that was mounted onto it "shortcakes." That's when I told him that we were there to try their strawberry shortcakes.

The fruit on the shortcakes changes during the summer months at E.Z. Orchards. Their strawberry shortcakes are sold in June, when they can get fresh strawberries from local farmers. In July they have mixed berry shortcakes and in August they have peach shortcakes.  The shortcakes include a biscuit or angel food cake, vanilla ice cream, fruit & whip cream. A large costs $5.25. The small is 50 cents cheaper, but it is half the size.

Overall we enjoyed our dessert experience. We sat in the shade, which was cold, but we wanted to keep our baby out of the sun. I was surprised by the tartness of the strawberries, but they were balanced out well enough with the sweet ice cream and whip topping.