Today we’re revisiting John Blair’s beautiful garden in Michigan.
I thought Garden Photo of the Day might enjoy seeing some updates on the progress of my pollinator gardens since my previous submissions (John’s Butterfly Garden in Michigan and More From John’s Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden in Michigan). After filling all available sunny space in my original southeastern Michigan gardens, my wife and I decided to move to a beautiful rural area with nine acres in the middle part of southern Michigan in early 2019 with lots of room for new gardens. Since then, we have created three large pollinator gardens focused on blending native plants with our favorite nonnative (and noninvasive) nectar plants. The first garden we made in 2019, the Back garden, is outside of our walkout basement. In 2020, we made the Front garden inside of our driveway circle, and in 2021, we created what we call the “Monolith” garden. There is a sandstone mine about 10 miles away, where we picked out a 10-foot-tall monolithic stone and had our landscaper erect it on our property to be the centerpiece of the new third garden. It has been fun seeing the gardens get more beautiful as they mature each year and thought folks here might like to see.
There is a wide variety of plants used in the three gardens. Here are some of the highlights: Native plants include Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium dubium, Zones 3–9), swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata, Zones 3–6), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa, Zones 5–9), Rudbeckia and goldenrods (Solidago spp.) of several kinds, purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 4–8), liatris (Liatris spicata, Zones 3–8), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis, Zones 3–9), Monarda, asters (Symphyotrichum spp.), garden phlox (Phlox paniculata, Zones 4–8), and others. Nonnative favorites used are Zinnia (California Giant, State Fair, Profusion, and Zowie Yellow Flame), Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia, annual), Verbena bonariensis (Zones 7–10 or as an annual), ‘Victoria Blue’ salvia (Salvia farinacea ‘Victoria Blue’, Zones 8–10 or as an annual), cleome (Cleome hassleriana, annual), Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum × superbum, Zones 5–9), Sedum, black and blue salvia (Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’, Zones 7–11 or as an annual), Veronica, and others.
We are pleased to see numerous pollinators visiting throughout the season, including butterflies, moths, bees of all sorts, and also hummingbirds! We look forward to increasing and expanding the gardens more each year as we are able. We have included a selection of photos from each of the three gardens for you to see. We hope you enjoy!
The monolith in the new front garden makes a dramatic statement, surrounded by clouds of flowers.
The dramatic light at the beginning and end of a day turns any garden in a magical space.
A hummingbird comes in to nectar at a zinnia bloom.
A burbling water feature takes center stage, surrounded by low-growing zinnia hybrids and tall black and blue sage.
A tidy mulched path leads through the lush displays of flowers.
No wonder pollinators love this garden. Look at all the blooms!
It’s hard to beat good-old zinnias for their ease of growth, beautiful colors, and popularity with pollinators.
This section is all shades of blue, purple, and mauve flowers, anchored by Verbena bonariensis, Salvia ‘Victoria Blue’, and cleome.
A rainbow over the garden
A swallowtail butterfly nectars on the flowers of Verbena bonariensis.
A four-legged garden resident sips at the water feature in front of a blazingly bright clump of butterfly weed.
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Comments
John, you literally have turned your property into a piece of paradise. Love everything about it. alice
Thank you so much, Alice!
Hello from Ontario, John :)
Your garden is absolutely spectacular. Takes my breath away. I love how it's so natural and not all "manicured".
Congratulations on a lovely garden.
Thanks for your kind comments, Katherine. So glad you enjoyed the photos.
...........oh and cute kitty cat too :)
Yes! That is Charlotte :-)
So much color! Nice photos of the hummingbird and butterfly as well. Would love to see the progress, earlier to what's to come as well as different seasons.
I have all of those photos. If you friend me on Facebook, I can direct you to my photo albums. My Facebook profile photo is a group of colorful zinnias.
Fabulous garden! You had me with the amazing cat at the fountain drinking water!
I love seeing your all blue and purple border, just a gorgeous as I could imagine!
Also you've captured so many amazing birds and butterflies with your excellent photography!
So glad you enjoyed the photos, Sue! My photography hobby dovetails really nicely with gardening. It allows me to share the beautiful things I see with others.
9 acres!!! Unreal! It is all so very, very lovely.
Thanks, Sheila! It is a dream come true for us to have this wonderful piece of land to work with.
Whoops! Meant to say Treasuresmom. Looks like Sheila is just below :-)
John, your gardens are a dream come true for all the pollinators that take a rest stop in your area and the humans that get to gaze upon the gift of color and texture your abundance of flowers provide. Bravo!!! Keep the photos coming.
Thanks, Sheila! It is truly amazing to see the variety and numbers of butterflies and pollinators that visit the gardens. One of the highlights was the fall of 2019. We were directly under (by shear luck) a continuous train of migrating Monarchs. They were dipping down into the garden to feed and rest and then rejoined the line of Monarchs in the sky. There were literally hundreds at once in the garden!
Beautiful flowers and great photographs. I love the low light early evening one. What are the tall (they must be tall!) purple-blue things on the outer edges of the monolith garden behind the annuals in the blue pots. Gorgeous---I have just the spot for something tall and blue----I need that name!
Being a cat lover of long standing, I have to also ask what kind of cat is that. The markings are wonderful and add an extra element of beauty to your gardens.
The tall purple flowers you asked a lot are Senioritta Cleome but unfortunately, they aren’t as tall as it appears in that photo. I have a three foot tall pedestal on either side of the water feature with a cerulean blue ceramic pot on top. The chromes are both planted in those pots. The pedestals are hidden by the plants. My cat Charlotte is a Classic Pattern Ocicat. We love this breed because they want to be with you and help (lol!) you all the time!
Looks like there is no way to edit here after posting. Should say “about”, not “a lot” and “cleomes”, not “chromes” . These autocorrect things sometimes are more trouble than they are worth, lol!
John, Beautiful garden for both us humans, and pollinators, and your kitty. Thanks for sharing.
It’s my pleasure!
John, truly a labor of love. Beautiful, peaceful, dramatic, and inspiring. Even the cat is beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the gardens!
Wow, just wow!!! Love your beautiful kitty, too. I have two miniature poodles who also consider themselves to be very ornamental in the garden. : )
Pets are such a joy and having them enjoy a romp in the garden with us is splendid!
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