We go Green Bay

We spent a few days in Green Bay, Wisconsin, recently. The attraction for the S.O. was the annual Packers shareholders' meeting; I just kind of tagged along. I did discover, however, that Green Bay has a really nifty botanical garden.

It covers 43 acres and has a nice network of paths, walkways, and hiking trails that allow a person to amble through a variety of settings and over varied terrain. There are one or two small formal gardens, but overall the plantings were more along the lines of what I'd label as a cottage garden.

I believe this what people mean when they say "formal" or "Italian" garden: wide pathways and foliage tightly controlled.

I much prefer the informal:

Among other things, it's a lot easier to skimp on weeding when you have masses of plants jostling up against each other. I'm  not a particularly ambitious gardener, so seeing that sow thistle had managed to sneak in amidst the bee balm and lilies was oddly reassuring. I'm definitely not the only person who misses stuff when pulling weeds.  

A few more photos:

There's even a folly. 

Unbelievably gaudy (and ugly) frog in the children's garden area.

There some amazing oriental lilies. The plants were the tallest I've ever seen and the blossoms were huge.

Comfort station

The gardens also had a wonderful assortment of day lilies and hostas. Neither is my favorite type of ornamental plant, but both are nicely reassuring in that once they're planted, nothing seems to kill them. Even deer ignore day lilies. It's good to know that there really are a gazillion varieties, which means that even if nothing else will grow, you can still have some variety in the flower beds.