September at ACG

Last week I visited Allen Centennial Gardens on the UW-Madison campus with Julie Siegel, a Chicago-area garden designer, blogger and friend. The garden is a teaching garden for the university but it is also free and open to the public. It was a perfect day for a visit with blue skies and few clouds, evidenced by this shot of the decorative details on the house once used by the Deans of the Ag School. 

On the ground, however, it was a bit sunny for capturing the best photos. I took this shot of Geranium dalmaticum to remind me that mine is planted in the wrong spot in my garden judging by how happy it seems to be here.

Every time I visit ACG I discover something that is completely new to me — like this seedpod of Datura. I've seen this plant growing in many gardens but never at this season when it has these huge pods along with its last few flowers.

Ed Lyon, the director of ACG, always creates exciting mixes of edibles and ornamentals.  

And he's an expert when it comes to color in the garden: whether it's flower and foliage combinations or art objects that he adds for emphasis. Every one of the following images offers ideas for home gardeners looking to do something a little different. (These tubes are painted PVC).

I particularly like blues that have a touch of gray or green as accent colors in the garden, and Ed must also judging by all the ways he employs it at ACG.

When I was at ACG at the end of June, I was taken with the clumps of peachy-pink hollyhocks that picked up the trim color of the Dean's house. This visit, it was the seedheads that matched the Cream City bricks.

Comments

[Desert Dweller / David C.]

Nice, not to mention that more people than I would have guessed grow Datura than the SW Desert! (we have 3 species, 1 or 2 perennial, the other an annual)

In fact, the reason most places here have daturas on their property is because no one does any maintenance...if they did, they might only be used in the landscapes of a few plant connoseurs.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

In this year of drought my hollyhock was so robust I couldn't believe it. Didn't need watering and it didn't develop rust until the very end. I just cut down those tall stalks because she deposited those seed all over one bed and they are all coming up. EEEkkkk. I need to move a bunch of them someplace else. Darn the luck. I have that Datura here too. Those seed pods can be dangerous. I love the flowers though. Nice tour.

[Altoon]

Oh, that blue pot! so beautiful in the garden. And I love your shot of the hollyhock seedheads and bricks.

[Linda Brazill]

Lisa — I think they are not worried about seeds of either of these plants as they are the lone residents in an area that is about to be torn up for construction.

Altoon — I thought the blue objects in this garden were quite wonderful. And I loved those dusty hollyhock seeds against the dusty bricks. Looked so intentional but I am guessing it was serendipitous.

[mamaraby]

Oh, my! The picture of the side of the building and the roof detail reminds me a bit of the Deer Park temple.

What a wonderful place to visit.

[Ed Lyon]

Linda,
Just ran across your blog about the Gardens - thanks for the complements! As usual, a beautiful pictorial. On the Datura metal, it always goes to seed for us, as far as spreading, Linda photographed the double yellow and double purple forms. I would love it if they seeded down but they never do - the white form does, I have never planted it yet we have it in various areas every year! As far as danger, I joke that when I went to school, it was discouraged in public gardens, particularly university sites, because we all knew of its hallucinogenic effects - today young people are on to designer drugs and inhalants (I don't even want to know) and have no idea about datura - the only people who pick the seed pods are people looking to grow it! Times change. And it is not appealing to children like baneberry fruit. So we don't worry about them like we would have a number of years ago ;-) Again, thanks for the awesome post!
Ed Lyon