Work Out - Visit a garden

By Nancy Leasman of Long Prairie

Alva’s cat Cheddar likes the garden, too. Contributed photo

I go on about three walk-abouts every day. The first one is to check the garden. The dew may still be on the grass. Have the tomatoes grown to the height of needing some support? How’s that wheat or oats that sprouted from the bale of straw we found on the roadside and I’m using for mulch? Do the spinach and lettuce need picking? Should I do something with the sprawling chard from last year that survived, went to seed, and I can’t quite bring myself to pull out? Same with the year-old carrots that missed the harvest shovel last fall? Same with the radishes except they’re from this year? Have the cucumber plants been eaten? Do I need to check the trail camera focused on them to see what’s been doing the nibbling? Have the deer enjoyed more hosta salad?

The second walk-about is usually connected with some task related to the above assessments.

The third one might be with me in my nightgown, checking on the growing things one last time before bed.

Gardens are like that. They attract, and distract. That’s true, too, for gardens other than our own.

Clemens Garden in St. Cloud. Contributed photo

A week ago, Ron and I spent a couple of distracted hours in the Munsinger and Clemens gardens in St. Cloud. Situated along the Mississippi River, the upper garden is a more formal layout, with hundreds of roses, water fountains, and hedge-lined “rooms.” Entirely open to the sun, these gardens have no protection from heavy rain and hail. It was apparent that they had been battered the evening before. The roses had lost most of their petals and leaves and many of the plants, including lilies and hostas, had been shredded. The lower garden, closer to the river, had more trees and had been spared some of the storm’s fury, though someone must have been out early picking up branches. We still enjoyed exploring what these gardens offered and plan to go back this fall for the autumn display.

Yesterday afternoon, a garden club and a quilt club gathered at an almost hidden garden here in Long Prairie. I was an invited guest and was delighted to learn the gardener’s story. Raised in Mexico, Alva was inspired by her grandmother’s garden there. When she tried to grow plants here that were perennials in Mexico, she found that they didn’t come back the next year. They were annuals here. Rather than being discouraged, she searched the internet and garden books and, in the process, learned to start perennials from seeds. Though her perennials are well-established now, she still loves the pops of color that annuals offer and spends four spring days planting impatiens, petunias, and miscellaneous vines and statement plants.

With well-situated fences, and the neighbor’s dog watching over the garden gate, the deer have not ventured to nibble on her hostas.

What gardens will you visit this summer?