Home Landscape Garden

This display garden showcases plants, shrubs and trees that serve specific purposes in a home landscape taking into consideration sizes of mature plantings, water control requirements and the desired color palette. 

Plants were chosen for their unique foliage and shapes to create year-round interest. Group plantings into beds and islands and mulch them well to avoid the need for trimming or mowing around each plant.

This demonstration garden also includes a solitary bee house, used by beneficial non-aggressive pollinators like mason bees as a place to raise their babies.

Some of the trees and plants for this garden segment were donated by Bailey Nurseries, Gerten’s Greenhouses and Wagner’s Garden Center in 2018 which shows how they mature.  The Mother Lode junipers were added in 2022 as an example of how to augment a landscape with ground covering plants.

Visit the U of MN Extension website for information about selecting and caring for shrubs and trees and horticultural resources on how to create a functional, easy to maintain, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and aesthetically pleasing landscape.

Another excellent resource is the U’s bulletin The Best Plants for 30 Tough Sites such as dry shade, slopes, lakeshores, etc and plant lists with traits such as long blooms, minimal-litter trees, and more.

Plant list

A  pink sparkler spirea – Spiraea betulifolia ‘Courisp’

B  autumn stonecrop – Sedum “Carl”

C  Norway spruce – Picea abies ‘Gold drift’

D  little devil ninebark – Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Donna May’

E  creme brulee potentilla – Potentilla fruticosa ‘Bailbrule’

F  crabtree – Malus ‘Bailears ‘Ruby Tears’

G  berry white hydrangea – Hydrangea paniculata ‘Renba’

H  cabernet barberry – Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea ‘Moretti Select”

I  Amber jubilee ninebark – Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Jefam’

J Moscato barberry – Berberis thunbergii ‘BailAnna’

K campfire rose – Rosa ‘CA 29’

L fiber optics buttonbush – Cephalanthus occidentalis ‘Bailoptics’

M kalm st johnswort – Hypericum kalmianum ‘Cobalt n gold’

N strawberry sundae hydrangea – Hydrangea paniculata ‘Rensun’

O diamond rouge hydrangea – Hydrangea paniculata ‘Rendia’

P parkland pillar birch – Betula platyphylla ‘Jefpark’

R bird’s nest spruce – Picea abies ‘nidiformis’

S sundrop spirea – Spiraea ‘Bailcarol’

T creeping sedum – ‘John Creech’

U salvia – Salvia divinorum

V prairie smoke – Geum triflorum

W allium – Allium sativum

X shining sensation weigela – weigela florida ‘Bokrashine’

Y french marigold – tagetes patula

Z Mother Lode Juniper – juniperus horizontalis ‘Mother Lode’

Garden map

Plant photo gallery