Sunday, July 11, 2010

Week of July 12, 2010


The Palmer Garden is located on the grounds of the Palmer Museum of History and Art and Visitor Center at 723 South Valley Way.

The large garden (inside the pole fence) features mainly perennial plants and grasses common to our growing zone, as well as local vegetables and fruits.

We also maintain other garden plots and plantings on the Museum grounds, featuring both perennial and annual plants.

Here are some broad photos of a few of the gardens:



1. Plant of the Week
This week it's all about the Peonies. After withstanding brutal winds and rain this week the Peonies are in full bloom throughout the garden. They will be waning in a few days so now is the time to visit if you are a Peony lover!

"Karl Rosenfeld": Paeonia lactiflora


"Karl Rosenfeld": Paeonia lactiflora


"Sarah Bernhardt": Paeonia lactiflora


"Red Beauty" (left) "Kansas" (right): Paeonia lactiflora


"Red Beauty": Paeonia lactiflora


"Duchesse de Nemours": Paeonia lactiflora


"Raspberry Sundae": Paeonia lactiflora


2. What else is blooming in the garden this week?
Below are some other denizens of the garden that are in full bloom and showing their colors this week.

Maltese Cross: Lychnis chalcedonica


Painted Daisy: Tanacetum coccineum


Lady's Mantle: Alchemilla mollis


Foxglove "Foxy": Digitalis purpurea


Maltese Cross "Vesuvius": Lychnis arkwrightii


Speedwell (blue flowers) and Meadowsweet (white flowers): Veronica spicata and Filipendula ulmaria


Carpathian Bellflower: Campanula carpatica


Clustered Bellflower: Campanula glomerata


3. What's happening in the Veggie Garden?
We also do Vegetables! Here is a brief overview.
Potato bed with OS Cross (the Giant variety) cabbages in the foreground. We plant multiple "Giant Cabbage" specimens and usually have some pretty impressive sized plants late in the season.


Zucchini Flower

We have two beds in which we grow the more popular locally grown vegetables. One bed is planted in Mid-May, the other in Mid-June. In these beds we grow Red and Green Leaf Lettuce, Romaine and Head Lettuce as well as Red and Green Cabbage and Cauliflower and Broccoli. This year we have added two Artichoke plants.
Veggie Garden planted May 15, 2010


Veggie Garden planted June 15, 2010

In addition to the Vegetables we also grow local fruits in the garden. There are three varieties of Raspberries, Black and Red Currant bushes, Gooseberry bushes and Strawberries. We have two Evan's Cherry Trees and two varieties of edible Crabapple species, "Rescue" and "Chinese Golden".


4. Looking ahead to next week.
While some things in the garden are in their prime this week, here are a few flowers to look forward to in the coming weeks:
Lilies! Many varieties of lilies will be blooming beginning next week and continuing on through mid-September. We have varieties of both Oriental and Asiatic lilies that put on a show in mid to late summer. Not to be missed!


Eryngiums, commonly known as "Sea Holly" begin to put on their colorful show in late July through first frost. We currently have 4 species growing in our garden and I will highlight them as they become more colorful.


5. The Rock Gardens
We have two Rock Gardens on the grounds: a large Rock Garden, inside of the fence and a smaller Rock Garden across the street from the library. The Rock Gardens contain many unique plants, some of which are alpine plants native to Alaska.We give our sincere Thanks to the Alaska Rock Garden Society and Jaime Rodriguez of Alpine Garden Nursery for planting the large Rock Garden in Summer 2009.


General Information regarding our Gardens:

The gardens are open to the public all day, every day. We ask to you please respect certain guidelines:

1. No Dogs

2. No Running

3. Look but don't touch, NO PICKING OR SEED HARVESTING

4. Young children MUST be supervised at all times while in the Garden


2010 Garden Supporters:

Little Susitna Farms
Vanderweele Farms

Thank you for your Support!

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