Visiting a landscape garden in Minnesota is not at all like going to a museum or art institute. In our northern community seasons move quickly. Today’s garden will never again be seen. Color, size and form relationships are constantly changing. Today’s shadows are new. Colors may fade by tomorrow.
Usually the museum shows its wares in the same places yesterday, today, and tomorrow…somewhat more similar to a landscape garden in California.
One of the most beautiful landscape gardens I have ever seen is the Botannical garden in Edinburgh, Scotland. Heather and evergreen conifers…that was about it for plant selection. Not much seemed to change from season to season on a cloudy day despite its enticing beauty. But when the sun did shine the shadows it cast were strikingly different winter from summer.
When talking “Landscape gardening in Minnesota” to local garden groups, listeners seemed to think a one time visit to a beautiful grounds divulged the whole landscape picture. “Oh yes, I visited that garden a couple of years ago,” as if things had been fixed in cement. If she had returned to the same scene only two weeks later, or in August rather than May, there could have been and entirely different sight.
When visiting smaller grounds we have landscaped years ago, it is relatively easy to determine when in the Minnesota growing season we had originally done the work. Are there more hydrangeas than azaleas, hotlips turtlehead rather that Bergenia? Redbuds and Magnolias used to be sold out at the wholesalers by the end of June, so we planted Pagoda dogwoods in late summer where a smaller tree was needed.
In my own landscape garden the high seasons of beauty are early May, late May through mid June, again in mid July until a few years ago, but more recently has become early August, then again early to Mid October. The winter garden is spectacular the entire 5 months of real winter if I can keep the deer out.