Ready for a Road Trip?

The sun is shining and the temperatures are slowly climbing . . . but there's a possibility of snow later this week, arrgh!  I am so ready to get outside!  Yes, I do mean in the garden, but as wet as the soil is, that probably won't be for awhile.  I'm also ready to get outside and go somewhere after being cooped up much of the winter.  Good friend Beckie and I are headed next week to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, which is always a highlight of March and a great way to get motivated for the coming gardening season.  I hope this will be just the first of several short road trips we can take this season.

If you're like me and enjoy road trips to see beautiful gardens, a great place to visit in the Central Midwest is Rockford, Illinois.   I wrote about the fabulous Anderson Japanese Garden in January, but that is not the only place in this city just an hour west of Chicago that is worth the drive.  The Klehm Arboretum and the Nicholas Conservatory are just two of the larger attractions in Rockford.

The Klehm Arboretum has 155 acres of natives and plants from around the world.  Originally a nursery, the land was donated to the city by the Klehm family in 1985 with the stipulation it be maintained as a public botanic garden.

A wide variety of trees, many of them planted by the original nursery owner in the early 1900's, line the walkways.  Friendly dogs on a leash are even welcome here; if I lived much closer, I know Sophie would love visiting the Arboretum with me.

One of several unusual creatures in the garden, a painted cow is sure to delight visitors to the Children's Garden.

If you took every trail that wanders off the main pathways, you could walk for hours and still not see everything.  This archway just looked too inviting to pass by.

This delightful secret garden was worth the detour.

The pollinator garden wasn't hidden at all, but along a major walkway 

so visitors would be sure not to miss it.

Filled with native plants, it was a haven for bees and butterflies on this August afternoon.  The more I looked at it, I realized this is my vision of what I wish my garden looked like.

Tall Rudbeckias (?) in another planting.

The Arboretum's main focus is on trees, and there are many examples of native and unusual trees to be found here including this conifer and the black locusts below.

The only drawback to the Arboretum is that there is no snack bar: Beckie and I made the mistake of not stopping for lunch before coming here, and after awhile, my energy was sagging or we might have stayed longer.  Next time I visit, I'll be sure to eat first--I could walk off a lot of calories on these trails!

Another place not to miss is the Nicholas Conservatory located along the Rock River.  Unfortunately, the Conservatory itself, which houses 11,000 square feet of a tropical setting, was closed for renovations on the day we visited.

But seeing the beautiful grounds outside the Conservatory, we decided to stop anyway, and we weren't alone.  It's obvious this is a popular place, not only for garden enthusiasts, but also for walkers and joggers who enjoyed the pathways through the grounds and along the river.

Border plantings include many native plants such as the Lobelia cardinalis above and the Joe Pye Weed in the previous photo.

A planting of Clethra in another area showed me what the puny little specimen in my garden is supposed to look like.

For rose aficionados, the Sinnissippi Rose Garden at the far end of the Conservatory grounds showcases a large number of rose cultivars.

If I were to ever attempt growing something other than easy-care roses, this would be my choice--'Glowing Peace.'  Isn't she beautiful?

I wasn't the only one taking photos on this pleasant morning.  I try to be considerate of others trying to frame the perfect shot, but I realized after standing behind this gentleman for a minute, that it wasn't necessary to be so patient:)  (Seriously, I did stand several feet behind him for awhile, until I realized my mistake.)

Garden sculptures, beautiful plantings, and lovely water features including the lagoon with fountains make this an enjoyable place to spend an afternoon.  Note the bike path in the background.

There are other smaller gardens and attractions in Rockford, but some of them weren't open at the time we visited.  Our time was limited anyway, and the three places we visited--the Anderson Japanese Garden, the Klehm Arboretum, and the Nicholas Conservatory--were well worth the three-hour drive.  Looking forward to more fun road trips this summer!

ABC Wednesday: X is for Xeriscaping

This week we have come to the letter X, normally a difficult letter, since few words actually start with X. However, a gardening-related word much in vogue right now is Xeriscape.

Xeriscaping refers to landscaping and gardening in ways that take into account the natural water supply and do not require additional irrigation. The word Xeriscape was coined by a task force in Denver, Colorado in 1978 and is actually a registered trademark of the water department of Denver. The word comes from the Greek word for "dry," xeros.

In arid climates like that of Arizona and other parts of the Southwest, it is easy to see why such a concept is important. On my first visit to Phoenix last winter I noticed that many homes did not even have lawns, just gravel and rock often landscaped with cacti and succulents. Areas with lush green lawns require daily watering to maintain them, as I discovered one night while walking around my daughter's apartment complex--I returned inside with soaked clothes after being surprised by the automatic water sprinklers!

While you might assume that only cacti like the prickly pear cactus shown above would be appropriate to grow in such a dry environment, I discovered that is not the case. A website on Arizona xeriscaping recommended many plants besides cacti and succulents for gardeners, including two that I saw everywhere while visiting Phoenix.

Oleander, which I showed on a previous post, is actually one of the recommended plants on the Arizona list. It is described as a plant which grows quickly and adaptable to dry climates.

The same is true of the beautiful bougainvillea. These plants were part of the landscaping around a Blockbuster Video Store! Notice the oleander in the background, too. Both plants are also used as part of highway landscaping; I saw many of them in beds of rock while we drove along the freeways around Phoenix. And here I thought Arizona must spend a lot of money on watering its highway plantings!

I must admit to not knowing much about xeriscaping; in fact, I had never even heard of the word until fairly recently. But in doing a little research, I discovered that gardeners in dry climates like the Southwest or other areas of the country subject to drought are not the only ones concerned with conserving water. That, of course, is the main purpose of xeriscaping--conserving precious water--but another reason is to plant a garden that is lower maintenance and can withstand the occasional periods of drought.

Here in the Midwest we don't have a dry climate--this past summer was one of the wettest on record--but we have had some summers of severe drought and usually have at least one "dry spell" every summer. I discovered several websites related to Illinois xeriscaping, although we often use the term "drought-tolerant" instead. On most of these websites you will find tips on planning a garden to survive drought plus databases of recommended plants.

Interestingly, the Arizona xeriscape website recommended the blanket flower or gaillardia. This traditional flower is also a native plant in the Midwest where it is easily grown. I took the picture above at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix where it looked just as good as in any Illinois garden. One of the things I learned about xeriscaping from my little bit of reading is something I already knew--you can't go wrong planting native plants.

If you are interested in learning more about xeriscaping, just google the word with your state. For my garden blogging friends, you may not learn anything new, but it's nice to know when you are planning a low-maintenance garden that you are also helping to conserve one of the earth's precious resources.

To see more ABC post visit Mrs. Nesbitt's Place or the ABC Anthology.

Since it is almost New Year's Eve, I hope that however you observe the occasion, whether celebrating with friends or spending a quiet evening at home, that everyone has a happy and SAFE New Year's Eve!