Marie's Garden Tour - July 14, 2011

Marie hosted the third garden tour of the evening.  Welcoming us into Marie's garden is this little frog statue.  But this isn't the only frog in Marie's garden.  Many real frogs have made Marie's pond their home.  The plant to the right of the frog is a dwarf Weigela called 'My Monet', which grows to a height of only 12 to 18 inches.  In spring, it is covered with beautiful pink flowers.  With its variegated foliage of green, cream, and a touch of pink, the plant is a beauty even when it's not in bloom. 

Marie grows plants around her pond... and IN her pond!  Marie and Lloyd have several aquatic plants, including hardy water lilies, double flowering arrowhead plants, corkscrew rush, and lizard's tail.  For safety after dark, solar lights are arranged near the pond.  Evening visitors can clearly see where the edge of the pond begins, as the soft lighting enhances evening enjoyment of the pond and the surrounding garden.

 Taking center stage in this picture is a potted lime green Heuchera called 'Key Lime'.  In recent years, Heuchera plants have become available with colorful foliage ranging from lime green to peach to the darkest purple, depending on the variety.  One of Marie's favorite dwarf plants is also pictured below.  The tiny hosta in the lower, right corner is a miniature hosta called 'Blue Mouse Ears'. 



The garden tour participants enjoyed Marie's collection of miniature plants.  Marie gave each garden visitor a map of the garden surrounding her pond.  The map helped us to identify the miniature plants that surround the pond.  Marie also shared a list of suggested sources for the plants. 

This sun-loving plant is known as Hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum).  It's quite happy to be growing on part of an old tree stump.  It is very tolerant of hot, dry conditions.

A sun dial marks the time on sunny days.

One of Marie's dwarf daylilies is this yellow beauty called 'Demetrius'.

 

Another tiny plant is this dwarf Monarda 'Pink Supreme', which grows to only 15" tall. 

Another of Marie's gardens contains a variety of different types of plants.

A beautiful rose is accented by a statue in Marie's prayer garden.

On the other side of the prayer garden is Marie's "Creepy Garden".  This garden is delightful for the names of the plants it contains, such as daylilies named 'Creature of the Night' and 'Bela Lugosi'.  This garden is an expression of Marie's keen sense of humor.

One of the more unusual items in Marie's "Creepy Garden" is this statue, which is named "Le Pleurant", which means "The Weeper" in French.  A pleurant symbolizes solitude, spirituality, introspection, and sorrow.  Pleurant figures have been used to show mourning so intense that it is also isolation - shutting away the world out of pain.  Historically, a person who suffered great loss would go to the monks and request to be a pleurant.  If granted, they would spend a year or more under the heavy cloths, completely cut off from the world.  The pleurant would use their solitude to work through their pain, trying to find God and overcome the great emotional burden they were bearing.  And when the pleurant felt that their need was finished, the pleurant would simply remove the cloths and return to the regular world.

This Petunia 'Phantom' has an unusual color combination of yellow and nearly black.  The purple is so dark that it appears to be black.

Perhaps even more unusual is this nearly jet-black petunia called 'Black Velvet'.  The flower petals really do look velvety.  It's an appropriate addition to Marie's "Creepy Garden".

Marie has a green thumb, especially when it comes to growing hostas.  Here is a large hosta clump in full bloom.

Here, a foundation planting of hostas always look fresh.

Marie shows the garden tour participants her newest garden, which contains daylilies Marie has collected from a variety of sources.  The yellow and orange flowers are marigolds.

Marie shares information about her daylilies with garden tour participants.

Here are some pictures of Marie's other daylilies.

At the end of Marie's tour is this beautiful, variegated Sedum.

Marie has created many gardens with different themes.  The miniature plant garden, the prayer garden, the fun "creepy" garden, the daylily garden, and others each contain plants that provide beauty and interest all season long.  Thank you for sharing your garden with us, Marie!  And thank you for sharing the great information too!