Garden Tour

This has been another beautiful weekend! The weather is cool at night but getting summertime hot during the day. We are really short on rain this month and the sprinkler is on to give the flowers a needed drink this evening. A friend and I spent Saturday on a garden tour in the small but lovely city of Minden. This is the first year their garden club has sponsored a tour and it was a huge success. We started out early since there were five different gardens to see. I included a picture of one of my favorites. One was a cottage garden with lots of whimsy and yard art. The other favorite was a manicured yard with a woodland side garden.

Of course once we finished the tour, we had to make a stop by the garden center for a take home souvenir. (that means a plant in case you are not a gardener)
I always find a new or unusual plant on these tours and this one was no exception. At the cottage garden, we saw a sweep of blue flowers in the front and when I found out it was Lespedeza I was surprised. I think my Dad used to plant that as a cover crop! It was really pretty in bloom. Another new plant to me was Ardisia Crenata. It has dark green foliage and a cluster of beautiful dark red berries that hang from under the leaves. It was used in a woodland garden and the red berries stood out like lights among the green background. Of course, that is what we chose to purchase as our souvenir.
My friend did a little research and found out this is a tropical, shade loving plant that has almost become invasive in Florida......just my luck! I am going to plant it anyway. If it takes over, I guess I will just have to move.