If you garden in the Upper Midwest it's likely you recognize this scene. It's the first row of parking spaces at the Flower Factory in Stoughton. I drove out not long ago on a Sunday morning and was only the second car on the scene. The gardens were looking gorgeous and there were lots of plants still available and a number of them were also on sale.
The members of the Indian Hills Garden Club visited my garden last month and were kind enough to send me a Flower Factory gift certificate as a thank you! I'd been compiling a list of plants I was interested in as the summer went by and this was the impetus to get me out of town.
A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of Hakonechloa macra plants to put in the former moss garden but added them to the new driveway border instead. So I needed more of those to put in the original location. Then I saw this 'Miller's Crimson' Primula and had to have it as it is a different red than my other candelabra Primroses. Two 'Norton's Gold' oreganos went into the driveway border at the foot of the big rocks where I need some color.
I was able to find the Hostas I'd admired in Nancy Mead's garden earlier this summer (which I wrote about on Tuesday) and scored a couple more plants with reddish foliage for the very back garden, along with a Geranium sanguineum 'Elke'. I've been growing these Geraniums for years but 'Elke' is a newer variety that has flowers that are bigger and are a bright neon pink with a white center kind of like those Phlox in the first image above.
After struggling for a long time trying to find the conditions that Astilbe like, I finally hit the jackpot and all my Astilbes are doing so well I could just about divide them annually. But I wanted one with more color for more of an impact. This one below is 'Delft Lace' which should be a wow with all my orange lilies next summer. And I bought Hemerocallis 'Pardon Me.' I like the smaller scale daylilies and I wanted a reddish one that could be planted near lavender flowers. This one should fit the bill.
A wonderful haul from the Flower Factory after a great visit with the members of Indian Hills Garden Club. Thank you!
