If you can dream every square inch of a garden, every day of its year, and every flavor of its season, then you can make it happen.
— Monty Don, host of the BBC's Gardeners World
This webpage reviews plants, materials, and techniques used in a midwest garden located in Bloomington, Indiana. The gardener is a "transplant" from decades of gardening in Southern California, so this is a challenge dealing with new environments and microclimates. View the garden on a walk-though, May 2023.
By the way, what's up with the quote above? Who is Monty Don? He's a presenter at the BBC's weekly "Gardeners' World" TV show, and if you give him a chance he could become your gardening guru. Check him out at his website.
Most clivia seem to be orange but this variety (probably 'Lemon Chiffon') has a light ivory-lemon color with deeper gold at the throat. This plant used to grow outdoors in Los Angeles for years before transitioning to a purely greenhouse plant in Bloomington, Indiana.
It's really one of the most striking Regal or Martha Washington pelargoniums (it fits either category) so it's a sad circumstance that the plant isn't currently in commerce. Logee's carried it for a time and may do so again. You can ask Logee's to contact you when it's available.
Bluestone Perennials has a nice Pink Blend daffodil package and that's where this ivory double emerged. I like the thrill of the unknown -- you never know what colors you'll get, from orange to pink to ivory -- but it's a nice surprise when they bloom midseason in spring.
Commonly called carpet bugle, this handy groundcover handles winter temperatures down to USDA Zone 4 and bounces back in spring with deep blue blossoms. It spreads nicely and makes new plants as it goes. There are other varieties of ajuga with different colored leaves but the contrast here is striking.
A backward glance
It's not every day that we can enjoy gardens of the past with our relatives and ancestors, but sometimes we're lucky.
Anna Sofia Mikkelsen Jensen was clearly an admirer of the concept of the outdoor room. She was born in 1876 in Ladelund, Nordfriesland, daughter of Thomas Mikkelsen (1850-1921) and his wife Helene Cecilia Sievertsen (1855-1914). Anna and her siblings came to America around 1887 with her parents and returned to Flensburg with her mother while her father Thomas stayed behind in Chicago.
Anna re-emigrated in 1889 and made her own life in Chicago, marrying Nels Jensen in 1892. She and Nels had four children: Marie, Albert Nels, Anna, and Anton. The 1930 U.S. federal census shows Nels working as a gardening laborer so it's no wonder that Anna and Nels had such a peaceful place to view their plants.
In this photo from about 1935, Anna enjoys her shady Chicago garden. If you want to know more about Anna's ancestry, please visit our companion website, Family Folio.
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