Julianna's Garden

Julie's garden is under the Basswood trees at the back of our property. The deer often pass by Julie's garden looking for snacks! She likes to choose flowers that the deer don't like.

Visit each family member's garden

Spring photos

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

Martigon Lily leaves (wild lilies) appear early in spring. This bulb was planted 13 years ago and has very slowly multiplied. It should be divided since it hasn't spread much of late. It is a consistent bloomer and is a lily that does well in the shade. Martagon lilies live longer than most hybrid Asiatic Lilies. The downside is that the avarage cost per bulb is about $15.00. They will seed themselves after some winters and provide more bulbs.
One of the first plants to appear in spring, Ligularia Desdemona is an excellent plant for shady areas and clay soil. It is hard to kill and it seeds in a very mannerly fashion to provide transplants. It gets droopy in bright sunlight.
Cornelius Cherry. This is a unique fruit tree that is completely hardy in Minnesota. Several varieties are available from One Green World Nursery in Oregon. The enlongated fruit from this shrub is red and lingers for weeks before dropping off or being eaten by birds. This is a very special plant. It looks like it will be long lived.
Grape Hyacinth - Muscari. This is a nice early spring bulb that appears to multiple over the years. It blooms for several weeks and then dies back allowing summer plants to take over the garden.
Allium Globemaster appears in the early spring. This clump of 6 stems has developed from a single bulb planted 13 years ago. Although difficult to establish, this bulb is reliable if sucessful. It blooms for about 3 weeks. Visitors often ask about this plant.
Common Flowering Quince. 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.
Common Flowering Quince. 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.
Cleveland Pear is a ornamental flowering pear tree. It survives in zone 4b, but took a hit after a particularly cold winter 5 years ago. However, it survived where nearly all other pears, ornamental and fruitbearing died. As shown here, it has made a good recovery. The pears flower a week or 2 before the crabapples.

Summer photos

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

Hydrangea Tardiva tree form. This is a great shrub, either as a tree or clump. It blooms late in summer when the perennials have given up. The dried blooms persist into winter. It needs wire protection in Fall from the scraping of buck's antlers. In winter, without wire, the deer tend to nip at the branches but nothing too serious. You would probably want to trim the branches in late winter anyway.
Hydrangea Tardiva tree form. This is a great shrub, either as a tree or clump. It blooms late in summer when the perennials have given up. The dried blooms persist into winter. It needs wire protection in Fall from the scraping of buck's antlers. In winter, without wire, the deer tend to nip at the branches but nothing too serious. You would probably want to trim the branches in late winter anyway.
Don has worked hard to establish an attractive mid summer perennial garden. The mainstays of this garden are the rudbeckia goldstrum, ironweed, wild sunflower (Jerusalem Artichoke) Heliopsis helianthoides (Oxeye Sunflower) and Chelone. A scattering of annual Impatients also helps.
Rudbeckia Hirta (foreground) and Hydrangea Pink Diamond (background). R.Hirta is a relatively short lived perennial that seeds freely. This particular variety seems longer lived than most R. Hirta. The leaves are thinner and enlongated compared to the longer lived Rudbeckia Goldstrum. The Pink Diamond Hydrangea is a great shrub, fully hardy in zone 4, and consistently produces large blooms in mid summer. The blooms last into late fall and provide good winter interest. It is of only passing interest to deer, but rabbits like to eat the stalks when the snow is high (it needs a low wire cage for protection).
Dahlias bloom late in the summer. Shown here is the dinner plate dahlia Mrs. Eileen. Dahlias need to be dug up each fall or new bulbs planted each spring. Don hasn't have much luck with over wintering; finding a dry room with a steady temperature of 35-45 degrees in Rochester during the winter is difficult. It has been easier to simply buy new tubers each year. Dahlias need to be watered and/or mulched to promote growth. They are somewhat attractive to deer, but an ocasional spray with Hinder will effectively deter them.
What to do about shade? This is becoming an increasingly urgent question in the Johnston Honey gardens as trees, especially Autumn Blaze Maples grow larger. Here is a work in progress. Hosta need to be protected by regular spraying of Hinder. Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' is a must for the shade. It likes lots of water but is tolerant of drought and is deer resistant. It blooms in mid Summer when shade gardening becomes boring. Seedlings appear each Spring and are easy to transplant.
Musk Mallow (Malvaceae) is considered a wildflower. It is a nice albeit untamable plant. It blooms all summer long and seeds readily scatterig thoughout the garden. It comes in lavender and pink. It has a very long root and is difficult to pull from the garden.
Annabelle Hydrangea is a Minnesota favorite. It is hardy and low maintenance. It tolerates a fair bit of shade. It provides winter beauty, but needs to be cut to the ground before Spring growth starts.

Fall photos

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

Of all the shrub roses, The Fairy blooms the most. It is also long lived as long as it is covered each fall. It looks like this most of the summer and unlike all other shrub roses, it doesn't take a rest.
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).
Aster October Skies. This is a great plant that keeps coming back year after year. It is resistant to fungus and grows up early in the year, looking good even before it flowers. One plant can take up a lot of space.
Aster Bluebird is very resistant to fungus. It stands about 2 feet high and occasionally seeds itself so that new plants can be obtained. It is not invasive. It is an excellent fall plant. However, it needs to be protected from the deer.
Autumn Blaze maples. These trees showed more color than most maples in the fall of 2004, but even this color is muted compared to a good fall foliage. These are soft, fast growing maples, prone to limbs breaking off if not pruned correctly. Branches should have an L shape as they exit from the trunk, not a V shape (these break easily). Also, the tree should be pruned at an early age so that a main leading trunk develops.
Fall Fiesta sugar maple. This is a new release from Bailey's Nursery in St. Paul. Even in the poor fall year of 2004, the colors were more vibrant than other sugar maples. It also grows faster than the older sugar maples. Remember that bucks love to rub the velvet off their antlers on young maple tree trunks in the fall. Be sure to wrap the trunk with a 4 foot high piece of chicken wire. This will expand with trunk growth, so if put on loosely, you won't have to keep replacing it. This tree has a bigger piece of welded wire around the trunk left from when it was a smaller tree and the lower branches needed protection from marauding deer.
This Eastern Prince Magnolia Vine bears edible red berries in the fall. It has small, scented white flowers early in the spring. It seems to be deer resistant. It also occasionally seeds itself so that new plants can be transplanted.
Ribbon ornamental grass turns brown earlier than most grasses, losing the verigated green and white color in August. It is a vigorous rhizomatous grass known to spread, but in this location is fairly well behaved. Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass is a more attractive version of this Ribbon grass. Silver Feather stands in the background to the left and Miscanthus Floridus (does not bloom well in dry Fall) is to the right.

Winter photos

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

Washington Hawthorne tree retains it's berries well into winter.
Winter scene.
The Amur Maple retains it's leaves in winter.
Amur Maple stand along the split rail fence. These small trees can be a treat, but some varieties, including these often fail to turn bright colors in the Fall. Flame Amur Maple provides consistent Fall show. Amur Maples tend to widen over the years, and require a lot of pruning to train 4-5 main trunks. It is not uncommon for one or two trunks to die only to be followed by a rapidly growing replacement branch.
The Merrill Magnolia is a wonderful small tree for Minnesota. It grows to about 30 feet, is very well behaved, has yellow leaves in the fall, and needs very little pruning. It's buds are formed in the Fall and must survive the winter to bloom.
Johnston Honey Jar

Shopping Cart

0 item(s) in your cart
Subtotal: $0.00
view cart view cart | check out