Sensory Overload...Part Two

Our second garden stop of the day was about a two hour ride from Scandinavia to a town called Kiel, Wisconsin. Again, we stopped along a lovely country lane and parked the tour bus. We had arrived at Pondside Gardens.

Chris - walking down the garden path towards the pond.

 

By this time it was close to noon and the sun had risen high in the sky with soaring temperatures greeting us. It was hot, hot, hot and with super humid air...we seriously considered wading into this inviting fountain in the center of the pond.

These gardens are located on approximately 13 acres on the pond side of the property and 14 acres on the house and hostas side. 
Entering through the arch of the Display gardens, the first of the 500 varieties of hostas invited us to linger and explore. 

With the rolling terrain, it was a good thing we all had on comfortable walking shoes...this pair of work boots were all ready occupied by an arrangement of greenery.

A nearby decorative bench with a welcoming engraving invited us to sit a spell and take it all in, but there was much to see and decide on and our catered lunch awaited us!

Decisions, decisions, how does one choose? Row after row just calling out for our attention...

We were told that if we spied something that wasn't in a pot, they would go and dig up the exact plant we pointed to and it could go home with us...how accommodating! Remembering our own property has somewhat limited shaded areas, I could only justify two plants...Orange Marmalade and June - both with multi-colored green leaves ranging from cream to blue green.
...And I knew the 3rd stop was where my gardening heart would speed up - so plan to come along as we head to Solaris Farms - specializing in hundreds of daylilies and oh-be-still-my-heart oriental/orienpet lilies...
See you on Thursday, July 28th!


Pat