Don's favorites

Don has lots of favorite gardens, but the greatest of all is hidden away behind a 3-rail split cedar fence in the front of the house. It is overrun, but full of character. Apple and cherry trees grow along side shrubs and perennials of all sorts. It is survival of the fittest! Here are some of Don's favorite pictures.

Visit each family member's garden

Spring photos

(16 photos) click on photo for larger view and caption

Spring Woodlands in the morning sunlight.
Emerald Carousel Barberry has fine yellow flowers in the spring and spectacular red fall color. Barberrys are completely deer resistant.
Bishop's Weed or Snow on the Mountain is a fine ground cover for dry shade. It is not a noxious weed! It is particularly attractive early in spring.
The lowly Bishop's Weed (Snow on the Mountain) is an excellent ground cover for dry shade and poor soil. It becomes more varigated as the summer approaches. It is not invasive in these conditions.
Ornamental Pear. This might be a Cleveland Pear, which is the one that has demonstrated the best hardiness and bloom in Rochester. It still died back (but recovered) 5-6 years ago after an especially cold winter.
The Blue Woodland Phlox makes an early spring appearence. Don is not sure about it's hardiness and it could be relatively short lived.
Hyacinths make an early appearance in the spring garden. These bulbs tend to come up the first year after planting, but may die out the next year. However, a few bulbs seem to take to Minnesota and will last for several years. They do not self multiple and the blooms tend to get a little smaller over time.
Common Flowering Quince (Texas Scarlet). The Quince are really a zone 5 plant. However, our Quince have survived for years here in zone 4b. They wax and wane depending on the previous winter. The winter of 2003-04 was relatively mild. Still, blooms tend to occur at the bottom of the shrub and only a few quince actually make it to maturity.

Summer photos

(9 photos) click on photo for larger view and caption

Close up of a Hollyhock. The Hollyhock is a biennial but will stay in one place for years by reseeding. The deer love this plant.
The Orange Meadowbrite Coneflower is not particularly long lived and doesn't reseed well, but it is unique in its appearance. There are a lot of better coneflowers to chose from these days.
Rudbeckia Goldstrum does well in mass plantings. It is completely hardy in zone 4 and tolerates some shade. This bed of plants developed from a few plants and has become infected with a fungus. It requires spraying with a fungicide before blooming. The plants in the shade are more resistant to the fungus.
The Duchess of Albany Clematis is probably the best all round clematis growing at Johnston Honey Farm. It reliably comes back every year, is managable in size, blooms profusely and is easly pruned to the ground each spring (type 3 clematis pruning). The second best Clematis at Johnston Honey Farm? Clematis Étoile Violette.
The red Carpet Flower shrub rose was the first in a series of Carpet Flower roses. The scarlet Carpet Flower rose is a follow up variety released in 2007. The red version is the second best performing shrub rose in the garden, next to Nearly Wild. It blooms once in early summer and again in early fall. It is very disease resistant and fairly hardly with occasional winter kill.
Clematis Davidii (or something like that). This was available from Miller Nursery, NY, but is no longer listed. It is a great climber and very winter hardy! It needs to be cut back every winter. A row of 4 plants are shown here along a 3 rail split cedar fence.
Clematis Davidii (or something like that). This was available from Miller Nursery, NY, but is no longer listed. It is a great climber and very winter hardy! It needs to be cut back every winter. A row of 4 plants are shown here along a 3 rail split cedar fence.
A self seeded Ironweed (center - purple flowers) grows to 10 feet (despite poor clay soil). This plant seems taller and more vigorous than it's parents suggesting the occurence of a unique subspecies. Ironweed is a fine and reliable plant that generally comes back in the same place yearly, and also provides the gardener with a crop of well disciplined offspring for transplanting.

Fall photos

(17 photos) click on photo for larger view and caption

Chrysanthemum (rubellum) Mary Stoker. This mum is a fairly reliable perennial, although it still benefits from a straw cover over winter. It blooms VERY late in the fall, and tolerates several frosts before relinquishing it's blooms. During a dry fall it may not be ready to bloom before the killing frosts. Bees love this plant. It is totally deer resistant.
The Ginko tree is incredibly slow growing. It turns a nice yellow in fall.
Dwarf Blue Spruce look wonderful covered in falling maple leaves. In the background is a Korean Maple. It's color is brilliant but it is not reliably hardy here in Minnesota.
The Knockout Shrub Rose tolerates a fair amount of shade. It blooms in early summer and again into late fall. It tolerates the first few frosts. It is shown here under dwarf apple trees. Deer love this plant.
Walker's Low catmint (front) is easily transplanted from volunteer plants. It tolerates some shade and a variety of soil types. Like all herbaceous plants it is completely deer resistant. Shown here in the fall, it looks good from spring to fall.
Autumn Blaze Maple turn mainly red in fall. They are the most consistent maple for color here in Minnesota.
The Winter Red Winterberry sounds like a nice shrub to have...abundant large bright red fruit persisting into winter, but not high on the list of Johnston Honey favs. The deer like it as do the rabbits on occasion (wire cage). It is very slow growing. The quantity of berries varies from year to year and it doesn't do so well in dry or shaded conditions. To top it off, fall foliage is so-so!
American Hazelnut is reliably hardy here in Rochester, MN. It is a slow grower and produces reasonably good eating nuts after about 8 years of growth. A single wrapped nut is shown in this picture. When the nut is ripe it falls to the ground. The fall color is an added attraction. This shrub needs to be protected from deer in early life.
American Hazelnut is reliably hardy here in Rochester, MN. It is a slow grower and produces reasonably good eating nuts after about 8 years of growth. The fall color is an added attraction. This shrub needs to be protected from deer in early life.
Sweet Autumn clematis suffers from a name idenity crisis. It is also known variably as Clematis paniculata, C. maximonowicziana and C. terniflora. It is a terrific fall bloomer. It is scented, vines up to 20 feet and is covered in white blossoms for a month. The problem with this plant is that it is not completely hardy in Rochester, MN. It is such an important contributer to the fall garden that you should consider replacing it on a regular basis. As shown here, the vine is semi-deciduous and retains it's green leaves well into early winter.
Chrysanthemum (rubellum) Mary Stoker. This mum is a fairly reliable perennial, although it still benefits from a straw cover over winter. It blooms VERY late in the fall, and tolerates several frosts before relinquishing it's blooms. During a dry fall it may not be ready to bloom before the killing frosts. Bees love this plant. It is totally deer resistant.
Leaves from an Autumn Blaze maple lie on the grass in late fall. The Chrysanthemum (rubellum) Mary Stoker blooms in the distance (center).
Domestic ducks contemplate winter.
Bishop's Weed is more than just a weed. It ranks up there with Orchid Frost Lamium as the best ground cover for dry shade. It is a little invasive but it can be easily controlled by weeding in the spring. It's thick growth suppresses weeds making it maintenance free. It looks good right through to the end of fall. In the back ground are finished hosta.
Pacific Sunset maple. This tree has survived despite it's shady location and borderline hardiness in zone 4b. The shade has resulted in sparse branching. Fall color is consistently bright, with orange and reds predominantly, even in the mediocre fall of 2004.
Painted Lady butterflies were everywhere this year as the dry weather delayed hatching. This New England Aster was loaded with butterflies and bees for about 3 weeks in Sept/Oct. The dark purple aster seems to attract the most insects. Any flower that attracts bees will similarly be attractive to butterflies.

Winter photos

(8 photos) click on photo for larger view and caption

Chrysanthemum (rubellum) Mary Stoker. This mum is a fairly reliable perennial, although it still benefits from a straw cover over winter. It blooms VERY late in the fall, and tolerates several frosts before relinquishing it's blooms. During a dry fall it may not be ready to bloom before the killing frosts. Bees love this plant. It is totally deer resistant.
Autumn Clematis and October Skies aster.
This winter scene includes the duck house that Don built over the pond. Ducks - both wild and domesticated - stayed clear of the building and at stands empty year round. To the right is the pagola that Don and James built.
This is a well structured Japanese lilac tree. Occasional winter pruning improves its appearance.
Domesticated ducks really don't like the winter here in Minnesota. In fact, their feet freeze to the ice and coyotes prey on them when there is no open water nearby. Some learn to fly and escape to the nearby Zumbro River for the winter.
The Japanese Larch loses it's needs in winter.
Winter scene.
Autumn Blaze Maples stand upright, the result of aggressive pruning of the lower branches. This allow for denser tree planting and preservation of the grass under the trees. Long dangling branches from a nearby Weeping Willow hang in the foreground.
Johnston Honey Jar

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