Home garden

2021 - 2024

Saint Paul

Started out as a thicket of buckthorn, orange daylilies, honeysuckle, and weedy trees. Manually removed these and replaced with primarily native plants which I continued to propagate to fill out additional space. In 2021, the front area was the primary focus for eradicating invasive plants. During 2022-2023, the rain garden, back alley, and side yards were the main focuses. During 2024, the boulevard was largely converted into a garden with shorter lived forbs like Rudbeckia hirta filling the space in between a matrix planting of younger grasses like Sporobolus heterolepis and Carex sprengelii.

The following photos are from 2024 completed as a part of my intern hours for the Ramsey County Master Gardeners and run from spring to fall.

  • False indigo blooming on the front hill

    Baptisia australis (False indigo) blooming on the front hill

  • Catmint with a bee

    Nepeta racemosa (catmint) with a bee enjoying its nectar

  • Anemone canadensis (Canada anemone) in the rain garden with Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alumroot) and various Sedum varieties blooming behind

    Anemone canadensis (Canada anemone) in the rain garden with Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alumroot) and various Sedum varieties blooming behind

  • Lanceleaf coreopsis

    Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis) beginning its blooms to kick off the summer.

  • Late spring with Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich ferns), catmint, and Heuchera (coral bells) in bloom

    Late spring with Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich ferns), catmint, and Heuchera (coral bells) in bloom

  • Midsummer with a fresh boulevard planting

    Midsummer with a fresh boulevard planting of Rudbeckia hirta (black eyed susan), Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln', and a number of small Sporobolus heterolepis and Carex Sprengelii interspersed. Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed) is beginning to bloom along with Echinacea purpurea.

  • The rain garden in bloom

    The rain garden in bloom with Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower) and Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed) in the foreground.

  • Black eyed susans

    The front garden hill’s Rudbeckia hirta in full bloom

  • Coneflower and Black eyed susan

    Purple coneflowers and black eyed susans in bloom in the height of summer

  • Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star)

    Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star)

  • Phlox paniculata (garden phlox) on the front hill

    Phlox paniculata (garden phlox) on the front hill

  • Red admiral butterfly visiting the coneflowers

    Red admiral butterfly visiting the coneflowers

  • The garden later in the season

    Later in the season, goldenrods (Solidago canadensis) bloom from late summer until frost.

  • Late in the season, heath asters and black eyed susans bloom together

    Because the Rudbeckia was transplanted mid season, it bloomed somewhat unusually late into fall. Here is seen alongside the blooms of heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)

  • New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) blooms in the late fall in the boulevard

  • The boulevard in fall

    The boulevard at the end of the season

  • The hill at the end of the season

    The hill at the end of the season