Cha-ching! (1-12)

To get to Blumen Gardens you can do some zigging and zagging through a quaint Illinois town known as Sycamore. Or you can stop at the local gas station and ask for directions.

Or -- and we much prefer this third option -- you can step into a Norman Rockwell painting and ask the first person you see, "where's the best garden center in the area?"

In art, as in life, the fingers will point toward 403 Edward Street -- home to beautiful flowers, charming gift items and happy customers. You'll also likely find the muse and artist somewhere in the mix, exchanging "high fives."

Owner Joan Barczak said the store's "straight from a painting" look has been an evolutionary process -- and one that has emerged as a result of a collective effort by the staff to craft a brand customers won't forget. "In some ways it is so simple," she said. "We create a look we like, and if we don't like something, we do it over and over until we do. It has taken some time to develop a staff that is like-minded, but we would never have was we do without the group of people that bring their sense of design and creativity to our shop."

That's several parts leading to a sum well-done -- and well received. Cha-ching!