Garden Tours

The nice folks of Snover, Michigan had a garden tour; these are some shots taken. Clicking on photos will enlarge them. Refreshments included adult beverages - nice change of pace.

Two box elders (Acer negundo) and one white cedar (Arbor vitae). I'm not fond of box elders but these two oldsters are well cared for and interesting. The house was built by the owner's grandparents at the beginning of the 1900s.

The very old vine (English Ivy or Boston Ivy - they didn't know which it was) on the concrete silo died last winter.

Rosa rugosa - lovelym hardy, smells nice

Gold Standard - Pauline Banyai*

Pauline was an old friend from the Royal Oak Farmers Market. She bred Hosta in her Royal Oak backyard and sold them at the market on Saturdays. I often see her famous "Gold Standard" as shown in the above photo.
(http://www.perennialresource.com/articles/652_Breeder-ProfilePauline-Banyai.aspx)

 I recognized the above plant as belonging to the genus Inula but had never seen one this large. When I got home I Googled the genus and discovered this was probably Inula magnifica. I asked Jeanne, a former junior high phys ed teacher, principal and later a high school principal from the west coast (of Michigan) about it and she gave me a substantial division. It's already planted and I hope it takes as I've tried to grow others from this genus unsuccessfully.

(On of the more common kinds of milkweeds, famous food of Monarch butterflies.

http://blog.nwf.org/2015/02/twelve-native-milkweeds-for-monarchs/)

(Adenophora confusa?)

Using old farming implements as garden curiosities is a neat idea.

Mary's Diner says lunch is served only after 11:00 a.m. At 11:50 they refused to serve me lunch so I said I'd wait until noon. "The menu was printed wrong so we won't serve any lunch until still later." So I tried Huron Hills the local golf course and I'me very glad I did. Maybe David and Carolyn and I can have a nice lunch and/or dinner there the next time they come. Nice and reasonable. Great views and I can watch people 'play' golf.
(https://www.golfnow.com/courses/1031824-huron-shores-golf-club-details)