MN State Fair Garden Tour – Part Two

It hardly seems possible that The Fair is over for another year. In my four trips to the Fair this year, I’m sure I covered most of the 320 acres of the grounds. During yesterday’s visit, I did get to all of the 32 gardens on the grounds. Here are a few of the gardens I didn’t show you the other day:


Friends School of Minnesota. Since I go to their plant sale every Mother’s Day weekend, I thought I should include them. There’s a begonia in this garden named “Raquel Wood,” for the founding director of the Friends School in Minnesota. This garden also includes one of the Tree Sculptures, carved from stumps of Elm trees that had Dutch Elm disease.


There’s a wildflower garden by the Creative Activities building and the butterflies were loving it! I was lucky to get a couple shots of the butterflies.




This garden is provided by a local landscaping firm. It’s one of several gardens with a water feature. People love to come and sit on the ledge or up in the gazebo.





These galloping horse topiaries aren’t on the map, but I saw them as I was wandering from garden to garden, and I liked them! They are lighted and have straw manes.





This is one of the more vibrant gardens on the grounds. It’s by the Administration building and is chock full of annuals and perennials, surrounding a boulder that bubbles water.




The blurb in the brochure for this garden (with Snoopy and Elvis) says it’s a favorite spot for napping. And, I did see a dozen or so folks taking a snooze, either on the shady lawn or on the benches in this very shady and tranquil garden spot. I could hardly believe over 100,000 people were roaming the grounds when I was in this garden.




I’ve walked by this “garden” at the bandshell hundreds of times and not even noticed it. The brochure says that the garden Is “overlooked by a rake imitating the rising sun and hopeful semi-finalists competing for a chance to perform on the big stage.” (The bandshell is where the preliminary talent competitions occur. Finalists get to perform at the grandstand the last Sunday of the Fair.)




These next snapshots are at the garden sponsored by the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. This shot is of an annual (here in MN anyhow) called Indian Kale. It has these wonderful leaves and wine colored stems.

Here’s a little garden angel that surprised me on the path in the MNLA garden.




This gazebo with green roof and goat is part of the garden sponsored by the Minnesota Horticultural Society! I loved this idea. It reminded me of traveling through Norway where I’ve seen live goats grazing on roofs.


A colorful wading bird sculpture is perched at the edge of a pond in the Hort Society garden.



The last garden on today’s tour is the garden at the entrance to the International Bazaar. Even though it’s in full sun, people sit on the ledge to rest their feet while enjoying a cool beverage. This garden is filled with tropical plants.




I took a guided tour of the JV Bailey house yesterday and learned that the Canna Lily is the “signature” flower of the State Fair! No wonder I always associate the two! That’s it for the Fair this year. Tomorrow, it’s back to the gardens at Auntie Ks, and planning for the neighborhood Plant Swap on Saturday. Yikes!

4H Garden Projects

One of my non-gardening activities is leading a book group for the senior high girls at my church. We met last Wednesday and ended up talking about “the Fair.” (Today is the last day of the Fair, and life will go back to normal, but it really does dominate conversations, media, and lives for 12 days.) I asked if they stopped by the 4H building. Some had, but some of the girls had never heard about 4H.

I’ll have to admit that until I started going to the Fair with my friend, Annie, most of my 4H experiences were in the animal barns. But, Annie is a costume designer and knew about a myriad of other 4H projects and activities, which she happily introduced me to. This year, in addition to looking at the clothing booklets and watching the variety show (they pull together a 30 minute program with only one week of rehearsals), I checked out some of the garden projects.


These two projects are about sunlight and plant parts. Budding botanist?







These two are about soil and compost. (Hooray for compost!)






And, this one is about garden design! The 4H’er who did this project took before and after snapshots of her site, selected plants (and included colored photos), and drew a map of the site, which she documented on her board.






Regardless of whether she grows up to have a career in landscape design, the skills she learned/used to create this project (and the garden) will remain with her for a lifetime.


Note: I’m not related to or affiliated with any of the projects I took snaps of. I was looking for projects that were related to gardening in one way or another.

Horticultural Society versus That Master Gardener Thing

When I was volunteering for the Minnesota State Horticultural Society the other day at the Fair, a man asked me about the benefits of becoming a member. After I told him, he said, “No thanks, I’ll just do that Master Gardener thing instead.” I explained to him that they were two separate things and that the Master Gardener “thing” was more involved than paying your membership fee each year. He waved as he walked away, saying, “I audited part of the class one year, it’s not that hard.”

It may not be that hard. But, it is work. Maybe I’m sensitive about his cavalier response because I’m in the process of applying to be part of the Master Gardener program for my county. I’ve put more time and thought into completing the on the 5-page application than I have spent hours in my three shifts at the Hort booth at the Fair this year. The “Horticultural Dilemmas” page asks you to show your work in that you need to list the source for your answer, which could be a book, the internet, or “other” resources.

The Horticultural Society encourages its members to volunteer – the Master Gardener program requires 50 volunteer hours the first year and 25 hours each subsequent year. The Horticultural Society offers classes, the MG program requires 12 hours of continuing education every year – plus the core course the first year. A blogger I read frequently responded to the Master Gardener question earlier this year.

That he didn’t see his comparison as apples to oranges astounds me. I would have taken his rejection of the Hort Society much less hard if he had said, “No thanks, I’ll become a member of the Arboretum instead,” since the Arboretum is another member supported organization that offers benefits to members without requiring service in return.

What are your thoughts? Am I being too sensitive about the man’s cavalier response? Is becoming/being a Master Gardener a piece of cake? Post a comment and let me know!

MN State Fair Garden Tour – Part One

I should have figured that the Minnesota State Fair would have a brochure describing all the gardens at the Fair! But, it wasn’t until I got home last night that I thought to look for it online. So, yesterday, before and after my shift at the Horticulture Society, I just wandered the Fair taking snapshots. Now that I have the brochure, I can hit the ones on Monday that I missed yesterday! I don’t think I’ll get to mention all 32 gardens, but I’ll post about the ones that made the biggest impression on me.

I took this snapshot at the Grandstand Plaza. This garden isn’t on the “Adopt-a-Garden” brochure, but I like it because it uses lots of red leaf canna lilies, which I always associate with the State Fair. And, it has the State Fair logo (a la the Hollywood sign) in the background.

My visit to the JV Bailey House was one for the “you learn something new every day” category. I knew that people lived in “that cute yellow house,” but I had no idea who lived there. I always secretly wanted to be a gardener for the State Fair, but imagined it would be a monumental job, and contented myself with tending my own gardens.


I had no idea that the house is now being used for meetings of the Fair Foundation. It’s a beautiful home and has lots of its history (and Fair history) inside. But, they had no brochure, so I’ll have to go back and read everything again.



I talked to the guide at this garden—adopted by the Minnesota Water Garden Society. He told me the garden was going to be re-done at the end of the season because it was looking “dated.” They also wanted to include some more plants that would be in full bloom during the Fair.




The last garden on today’s tour is one I can’t identify from the brochure. I was completely in awe of the succulents used here.

Accidental Archaeologist

I can’t remember the first time I thought it would be cool to be an archaeologist. I know it was by time I was in junior high school, because that’s when Lucy was found in Ethiopia. The fact that people and buildings and whole villages were buried beneath the ground we were walking around on interested me immensely. The fact that archaeologists could look at fragments found at these sites and tell stories about what those people looked like and ate and used for tools was even more interesting to me. I never became an archaeologist, but was interested enough to take several years of courses at university.

The other day, I was digging a hole so I could move the baptisia, and came across this nail. It’s round and about 6 inches long. I’ve seen similar nails in Norway, but not here in the US. The nails I found in Norway were from a construction about a century earlier than my house.



A few years ago, I did some research on my house and know it was built in 1916. But, I don’t know anything about construction materials that would have been used at that time. Could a nail like this have been used in the construction of my house?! I guess my next research project is going to be about early 20th century construction materials!

Have you found anything interesting or surprising in your gardens? Post a comment and share your story!

The Second Time Around

“Love is lovelier, the second time around,” croons Frank Sinatra. It’s a song about falling in love after you’ve been around the block a time or two. But, it’s the song that came into my head the other day when I saw the lavender blooming again this year!

One of the gardens I rearranged this year was the sunny hill. Last fall, I put in some of Betsy’s purple salvia and some asters with a few lancifolia at the rock border. I hated the asters (they were supposed to be low growing and aren’t) and the salvia looked lonely, so I added some lavender – 5 of them, actually. They really like the sunny slope and look great with the salvia. I trimmed the flower stems off (yes, I saved them) and thought that would be it for the year.

Imagine my surprise when I walked by and a couple of the plants were sending out new flower stems! I had no idea lavender would re-bloom. Frankly, after I was told I’d never be able to get lavender to bloom in my setting at all, I was happy when they all bloomed the first time this year. So, a second bloom is a thrill!

I don’t know if it’s “lovelier” but it’s definitely “just as lovely,” the second time around.

Plants that Beg to be Touched

Roses and Lilacs are two flowers that beg to be smelled. Actually, when I pass by either, I have been known to do a full on face plant to get the full intoxicating aroma. Okay. I do the same thing with Peonies. In the last week, though, I’ve found myself touching, rather than smelling, plants. I think it’s because they look so fluffy! For whatever reason, I’m compelled to reach out and touch them!


First up, sedum, any upright variety will do. They look fluffy, but aren’t really. But, I always want to reach down and feel them. I almost got stung the other morning when I didn’t see a bee nestled in the blossoms.



Next up, hydrangea. I’ve got only the old-fashioned Lace Cap hydrangea, but I still tousle their heads when I walk by. Even when these are past their prime, they’re fun to run your hand over.


And, finally, Artemesia Silver Mound. The name of this plant fits it well. It’s such a feathery mound, too. Tousling this one always makes me think about the beach, which I miss here in land-locked Minnesota. Living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is great, but it’s not like living on the ocean. I don’t have any of this on the wall or on the hill, so I’m always kneeling to touch this one. Guess that’s gotta change!

Are there plants you can’t walk by without touching them? If so, post a comment and let me know!