Dwarf Solomon's Seal

My mini hosta bed has a variety of dwarf/mini perennials as companion plants in addition to hostas.

This dwarf variety of Solomon's Seal makes a nice companion plant!  It adds a different texture and shape to the bed!  I'll share some of the other dwarf/mini perennial companion plants at a later time.

Below are a few pictures I took this morning of my Polygonatum-humile:

For more information on this dwarf variety of Solomon's Seal   CLICK HERE!

Open Garden 2016

We just can't miss attending the annual Shades of Green Hosta Society of SE MN "Open Garden" event, usually hosted by Cindy Tomashek who is our organization founder and current president!

Her home garden is a wonderland of hostas with companion shade plants that extends into the extensive woodland area behind her home.  It is always a good time to visit with plant friends and hosta gardener friends!  

This year I focused on the magnificient Solomon's Seal growing among some of the hostas.
Indeed this is the bloom season with the quietly decorative white blossoms catching attention.

I grow a dwarf variety in my "mini hosta bed" and I'll soon share that with you.

Meanwhile, focus on this picture  a bit and enjoy!

For more interesting information about this plant, Click Here!

Dress shopping?

How's this for a new spring outfit?

I guess you could order this in different colors! 

This lovely young lady greets you as you walk into the most fabulous garden center in Southern MN!  Donahue's in Faribault, MN.

Fortunately it is just a quick drive from our cabin and I always make a point of getting there each spring.  Their floral baskets are always the best, and picking one out takes forever because making up your mind is difficult!  Not to mention a stiff neck if you want to look at them all to be sure you get the one you like best!  Their greenhouse seems to go on forever!

Plant Sale Day!

We hold our sale in one of the buildings at our fair grounds on a Wed. from 4 PM to 7:30 PM and Thurs. 8 AM to Noon.  It takes a day and a half to collect all the donations and get them arranged and priced for the sale, which becomes a fun time of work and networking among our members. 

At 4 PM when it is time to open the door, we are greeted with a long line of customers waiting impatiently to shop!  This year our total sales were $12,800!  Amazing isn't it?  Lots of work but so satisfying.  Proceeds are used to fund our various community projects which includes $2,000 in scholarships at our local college in their horticulture program!  

Customers waiting for the sale to start!

Members waiting to assist customers!

I am standing far left!

The hosta section ready for customers!
This is the area I am in charge of!

A milestone!

I can't believe this is my 300th blog post!  I started this on a fourth of July weekend two years ago just for a fun thing to try!  

Seems I'm still having fun!   I do not get any reports back on who or the number of followers but I keep doing it because of how many of you tell me how much you enjoy it!  I am always amazed at the number of you and who you are.  Thank you!

I love taking pictures of flowers, plants, gardening events and sharing friends gardens.  This seems such a good way to use all those pictures and share them!

If you have some special pictures you'd like to share....please send them to me at gramakj@charter.net

Thank you for letting me know you enjoy my visit "over the garden gate"! 

Karen

Preparing for our annual garden club plant sale!

April and May are prime times for preparing for our annual plant sale fundraiser in the garden club I belong to! 

Our plant sale is one of my favorite activities!  We gather plants to donate to the sale from our own gardens as well as people who want to downsize their gardens and invite us to dig plants from their gardens!

One site we were invited to remove all the plants as there was going to be a complete redesign of the landscape.  A crew of our members dug and potted up over 350 pots of plants one day early this spring!  

Some of the dig crew from our club!
 

plants ready for the sale!

Bill's Tulips

What a surprise when we arrived at the lake this spring!  Our neighbor, Bill, had revamped a flower bed just outside my kitchen window and filled it with tulips!  I could hardly wait to see it in bloom and it sure was as awesome as I expected when it did!

  

'Bluebell time in SE Minnesota!

This week Denny came home from golfing with pictures of the Bluebells blooming in the woodland area along hole 13 at the , Maple Valley Golf Course!  Which reminded me how much I'd like to go to Carley State Park nearby to view the Bluebell display there and I had never done that!  It seems I have problems carving out time when its not raining
to do that at this time of the year!  I have a few Bluebell plants in one of my part shade beds and look forward to those few every spring!

Well, the next day he told me to get in the car because we are going to look at Bluebells!  Yep, I got my Bluebell fix and pictures!  Thanks to a golf cart ride to the site, I was enchanted by the scenic area and quickly whisked to hole 13!  Less than an hour and I was home again!  What a treat!

What a guy!  What a beautiful golf course! 

Plant shopping again....

Four of us gals (two vehicles) ventured forth to the Mennonite Community in northern Iowa searching for plants for our garden beds again!   As usual, we had a fun day including lunch in New Hampton.  We only visited two garden centers because our truck and van were full with only enough room for us to come home!  

Lots of healthy beautiful plants at a healthy financial savings plus a great bonding time!
(guys use ice fishing and hunting for bonding)