James' Garden

James garden is under the 100-year-old oak tree located high on the hill near the back of our property. He likes to help his Dad weed the garden and plant new plants in the spring! James picked some of his favorite garden pictures to show you.

Visit each family member's garden

Spring photos

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Close up of an onion flower head.
Hosta garden.
The large pond in spring. Plants in the pond are cattails planted in pots. the pots have holes drilled in the bottom to allow some roots out to help anchor the plant to the rocks below.
Lamium or Dead Nettle is a fine ground cover for all sorts of shady conditions, including dry shade. This is probably Orchid Frost with purple flowers. Other varieties are commercially available, and there seems to be some spontaneous hybridization going on as well, with different shades of pink and yellow appearing throughout the garden. It generally holds it's appearance during summer and fall. Deer don't bother it.
This unnamed Kaufmanniana tulip is a reliable perennial, unlike most tulips. It blooms before the larger tulips and nearly all daffodils. It is a beautiful sight on a sunny early spring day!
Plum trees put on a great show every spring. Some varieties, including Toka, Pipestone and Superior produce good crops of plums. The downside of all plum trees is the short life span. Although one must replant frequently, they bloom profusely after only a couple of years. Compare this picture to the one of 6/1/2002 to see how they grow!
Vinca grow under the white pine trees and make an early spring appearance. They are reliable and spread but do not grow thickly enough to crowd out the weeds. Weeding is a pain! The pine needles provide a mulch and help control the weeds.
Maple flowers (develop into samaras) provide the honey bees with their first source of pollen used to feed the larva. This is an Autumn Spire maple and grows more slowly and is more upright than most maples. However, it is not a consistent performer and may decline in vigor with time if not perfectly happy. The leaves tend to turn red very early in the fall (the less vigorous the tree is the earlier the leaves turn).

Summer photos

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Mass planting of Hosta. Regular spraying with Hinder keep the deer away. The yellow Hosta are deer resistant.
This yellow Asiatic Lily was purchased at Sam's Club many years ago and has outlived nearly all it's highly touted, expensive cousins. We have found that Asiatic Lilies tend to die out over the years, aggravated by increasing shade, poor soil, fungus and overcrowding. In general, the more exotic the Asiatic Lily the shorter it's lifespan!
The Cascading Begonia needs to be stored in a cool place during the winter (a ziplock plastic bag filled with shavings will do), but are worth the effort. Replant one or two bulbs in a hanging basket each spring and by early summer they will be blooming.
This is probably an Upland White Aster. It was obtained from Quebec, Canada several years ago and has thrived here in Minnesota. It tolerates poor soil, and blooms for a long time during the summer. It is not deer resistant!
Heliopsis helianthoides - Summer Sun Oxeye is one of the best Heliopsis in the Johnston Honey garden. It blooms throughout the summer and doesn't need deadheading. It reseeds just the right amount so there are some new plants each spring. The only downside is the aphid infestations that can occur later in the summer. It is fairly deer resistant.
The Knockout shrub rose is a fairly disease resistant new shrub rose that bloom profusely in early summer and again in late fall. The blooms will survive the first few frosts. However, contrary to the advertisements for this rose, it is not perfect. It is susceptible to fungus if planted in the wrong location and it is not super winter hardy. Mulching in the fall might improve survival. Regardless, Don recommnends it for mass plantings with the anticipation that 1-2 will need to be replaced each spring. The red Carpet Shrub rose is hardier and more disease resistant, and blooms about the same amount.
Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'. This is a very vigorous,. large sunflower. It blooms for 2 months, late in the summer when other perennials have long since given up. This plant is fully hardy in zone 4 and it tolerates some shade. Bees really love it!
Trumpet Lilies are a terrific plant....for 3-4 years. They tend to die out, either from a harsh winter, or a dry fall. If kept moist through summer and fall and mulched carefully in the winter, they may thrive. Trumpet liies spread their scent over the entire garden. A wire enclosure is necessary in Don's garden to keep the deer out. Even though the deer could nip at the branches protruding out of the enclosure, they seem to be afraid of the wire. Besides, in July there is a lot of desert items to chose from!
Trumpet Lilies are a terrific plant....for 3-4 years. They tend to die out, either from a harsh winter, or a dry fall. If kept moist through summer and fall and mulched carefully in the winter, they may thrive. Trumpet liies spread their scent over the entire garden. A wire enclosure is necessary in Don's garden to keep the deer out. Even though the deer could nip at the branches protruding out of the enclosure, they seem to be afraid of the wire. Besides, in July there is a lot of desert items to chose from!
Hypericum, Kalm St Johnswort. This is a low growing shrub that is incredible attractive to bees. It blooms for a long time and might be a good shrub to plant in mass. It should be mulched adequately in summer to maintain moisture. Hardy in Southeast Minnesota.
The Harrison shrub rose is a winner in chilly Minnesota. It is very hardy and blooms realibly each year. The bloom lasts about 2 weeks and it is spectacular. Enjoy it because there is no repeat bloom. The shrub needs to be thinned of old branches or cut to the ground every few years to maintain vigor and winter hardiness.
Rubeckia Goldstrum (forefront), pink Carpet Rose (mid), white phlox and Sweet Autumn clematis are good plants for the late summer. 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.
It is very difficult to capture on film the true beauty of a mid summer garden in the late afternoon sunlight. This is the best that Don could do and it is not even close to reality. Still, the immense variation in greenery is apparent. That's a self seeded Ironweed plant (tall, purple flowers) in the middle.
Rudbeckia are right up there with Chelone as the ideal plant for Minnesota gardens. They tolerate shade, heat, drought and poor soil. Shown here is a small pond at the edge of a pathway leading up the hill. The orange relection of a goldfish can just be seen in the pond. During the winter, a heater provides a hole in the ice that allows gas from degraded plant material (toxic to fish) to escape. The waterfall continues to operate during the winter dispite the buildup of layers of ice. If the power goes out, the waterfall is toast until spring.
Spider plants (cleome) are annuals that consistently come back each year by reseeding themselves (and change colors by cross fertilization). The flowers are incredibly attractive to bees. It is best to set aside a separate garden for your Cleome. There is no need to thin out the smaller plants (can if you want) as the strongest ones will dominate and bloom until frost.
Stella D'Oro Daylily is a favorite landscape plant at the Mayo Clinic because it is hardy and blooms for at least 2 months during the summer. It is easy to divide too. It needs a reasonable amount of sun to thrive.
Nearly Wild hardy shrub rose is the best shrub rose available. It survives the coldest winter, blooms consistently and profusely early in summer and then again in early fall, it is relatively deer resistant (the deer still like it!), and it is highly disease resistant. There is nothing better!
Monarda or beebalm Gardenview Scarlet (we think) is a big hit in the garden for a short time. It should be cut back after blooming to tidy up and to encourage the plant to spread.
Rudbeckia Goldstrum or Black-eyed Susan Coneflower is the backbone of the mid-late summer garden. It is the perfect plant! It is completely winter hardy, drought resistant, tolerates a fair bit of shade, stays forever in one location but seeds just enough to provide additional plants, transplants easily, blooms hard for at least 2 months when little else is in bloom and even provides some winter interest.
Star Gazer is one of the few reliable Oriental Lilies that we can grow. It divides slowly, but seems to come back every year. Their beauty is outstanding and for a short time they dominate the summer garden. These bulbs came from Sam's Club!
Kim's Knee high Coneflower is a new version of the Purple Coneflower; it is a little shorter and the petals point down more consistently. The purple color seems a little more intense as well. They seed well, but also survive in their orginal location making for an ever growing patch of Purple Coneflowers.
Tall Blue Delphinium are attractive but need care. They are not reliably hardy, and deer love them. Without fall mulching, they last a couple of years, after which survival is variable.
A new clematis (can you help us with the variety?) scrambles up a trellis. Clematis must be protected from the deer. Many clematis, including this one, do quite well in the shade.
Two Mediland, Alba shrub roses bloom in the background, and Nearly Wild shrub roses bloom in the front. The Alba is a very disease resistant, hardy rose in our garden. It is also a good repeat bloomer. It can become very large following a mild winter and bloom profusely over a couple of months. It tends to die back every 3 years or so, as the larger branches age. These could also be pruned out, but we might miss a show like the one you see here!
The hardy shrub rose William Baffin, Explorer series is shown here. It is a reliable June/July bloomer, but tempermental as a rebloomer. It can be devestated by fungus and dies back in a very cold winter. Old stalks need to be pruned out in the fall or early spring to maintain vitality. It is a better climber than the Henry Kelsey shrub rose.
This Carefree Beauty shrub rose has it's day in June/July. Advertised as an everblooming, disease resistant rose, it is lacking, as are most of the Carefree varieties.
It is difficult to capture the full beauty of this shrub rose garden. It is a spectacular, albeit short lived appearance that occurs in June for about 3 weeks. By mid-summer blackspot has taken it's toll on the foliage. A few varieties rebloom well into late summer.
These are the unripened fruit of a Magnolia Vine, something not likely found in Minnesota nurseries. A subtle plant, it is awaiting its place in our garden!

Fall photos

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A new duck pond has been built at the Johnston Honey Farm. The challanges are to find plants that tolerate heavy, wet clay soil, and are deer resistant. A portion of the garden surrounding the pond is shaded. So far, in descending order of shade tolerance, Monkshood (Arendsii Acontium), Miss Kim's Knee High Purple coneflower, Rudbeckia Goldstrum, Karl Forrester ornamental grass, and nepeta (Walker's Low) do the best.
Arendsii Acontium finally bloom in late October. This shade tolerant plant will survive several frosts before finall succumbing to winter. It is one of the first perennials back up through the newly thawed ground in spring. This plant is truly a 3 season perennial for the shade. It is poisonous if eaten (animals seem to know this without testing the plant first).
Orchid Frost Spotted Dead Nettle (Lamium). This is the best ground cover for dry shade. As a bonus it is completely deer resistant. A pink flower arises above the silvery foliage in spring. However, the greatest attraction of this plant is how attractive it appears thoughout the year. It spreads quickly but it is not invasive and it suppresses the weeds.
Orchid Frost Spotted Dead Nettle (Lamium). This is the best ground cover for dry shade. As a bonus it is completely deer resistant. A pink flower arises above the silvery foliage in spring. However, the greatest attraction of this plant is how attractive it appears thoughout the year. It spreads quickly but it is not invasive and it suppresses the weeds.
The American Cranberrybush gradually yields its crop of scarlet berries to the birds over the winter months. This shrub needs to be pruned regularly!
A bow of Silver feather ornamental grass hangs over the pond.

Winter photos

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Guinea Fowl like it hot! This flock gradually diminished over the summer as owls, racoons and coyotes feasted on them.
Autumn Clematis really does smell sweet!
The wrens have left for a warmer place. Their song is one of the most welcomed sounds of spring.
The fountain in winter.
Winter amonst the Populars.
Thornless Hawthorne tree has a characteristic shape.
Winter scene.
Snow piles up on this winter morning. Paradoxically, a thick blanket of snow is good for the garden by providing insulation from the cold and wind.
Johnston Honey Jar

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