Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: Part I
When I was hope in early September, we really got our garden on. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is always a great way to spend an afternoon. Early September is also an amazing time to visit. All the summer color was at its peak!
Gardening in Minnesota really has peaks and valleys. Late summer is definitely a peak. Fall is delightful but too brief. Winter is a valley and takes a good garden planner to have something happening. The arboretum definitely has some great garden planning.
While most of the exciting, bold colors came from annual plantings, there were some good perennial moments. My favorite was the prickly pear and yucca planting. So unexpected in the upper Midwest landscape!
The large insect sculptures you see in a couple of the photos are part of a traveling show. David Rogers' Big Bugs were only on display until the end of September so I'm happy I caught the show. The insect sculptures were made from wood so they looked really great in the garden placed amongst the plants. They definitely looked like part of the design despite being a temporary show.
Lastly, I love that the garden has "recipe" labels in all their container plantings. As a plant person these are the best. Nothing is worse than seeing a plant you love and not knowing what it is. This especially true with plants that have hundreds of cultivars such as coleus or dahlias. How will you ever figure out which one it was?! The answer is always a guess. So cheers to you, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, for nothing making me do a frantic google search! (Even though I'm pretty dang good at it.)
