We have lots of grapes ripening in the garden. These are the UMN cultivar 'Frontenac Gris', one of four major releases of cold hardy wine grapes for Minnesota. Others are 'Frontenac', 'Marquette', and 'La Crescent'. They have also released three varieties of table grapes-- 'Bluebell', 'Swenson Red' and 'Edelweiss'. Hopefully we can get to them before the birds!
Our hops are blooming! We have Golden Hops, variety 'Aurea'. These are grown for ornamental purposes more than brewing. They look beautiful on the grape arbor. The foliage and hops both add a nice bright green spark!
We have several varieties of garden phlox, ranging in color from white to striped to hot pink. They provide a nice bloom in the garden later in the year than most other flowers we have.
The clematis is sending out lots of flowers. Clematis is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Ours are climbing on a trellis north of the grape arbor.
Cardinal Flower is looking great this year.
Lobelia cardinalis loves wet soils, so ours is growing on the pond edge where the soil gets a little soggy. It's wild habitat is along streams and ponds, so it's doing really well here.
False sunflower, or heliopsis, has been sending out blooms almost all summer. It pairs well with Joe Pye weed, another tall plant. The heliopsis adds a nice bright yellow flower to the garden. It's a prairie flower and has few insect, soil, or disease problems and can tolerate drought well.
Evening Primrose makes a wonderful low growing ground cover in the landscape. It's drought tolerate and easy to grow. The blooms are huge and the wrinkly foliage adds some interesting texture.
Goldenrod is a Minnesota native plant. It's a good plant for attracting beneficial insects and pollinators. Ours is constantly covered with bees. It's a fast spreading plant so beware that it may spread into places you didn't want it.
The balloon flower on the west end of the garden is doing great! It's grown quite tall and has been blooming continuously for the past few weeks.
Moss roses are a fun annual for path borders or rock gardens. Sometimes they will even reseed themselves, as this one has done. The succulent-like foliage and the bright colored flowers are a great addition to the path near the ginkgo in the garden.
Our Honeycrisp apples are almost ready! Dwarf apple trees look great in the landscape and provide you with a delicious crop. The Honeycrisp is one of the most popular apple releases from the University.
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