Another Garden for National Garden Month - Southwest Indiana Master Gardeners Display Garden

This time I have images from an unexpected discovery in Southern Indiana in Evansville, IN.  During the fourth of July weekend in 2014 we went on a road trip and stopped at a number of places.  We were going down there to tour an LST (that is Landing Ship Tank a troop and equipment transport from World War. We stayed at a and drove into several times on each trip we drove by what looked like a garden area set way back from the main road.  I could not see what it was exactly but finally after we were finished with the reason for the trip, we were passing by it again and I turned to my husband and said, I need to know what that is, can we stop?

My thought was that it might be a community garden, but it was not exactly that.

It was the Southwest Indiana Master Gardener Display Garden

They had been part of the annual garden walk a few weeks previous, so the garden was in its glory.  This was another garden with vignettes.  There was Cottage Garden, a log cabin, Frontier garden, a American Winners display area, and a wonderful Herb Garden complete with a thyme covered path and an arbor that was such a striking image that I must have taken a dozen photos of it.

The Cottage Garden, although without a cottage was well crafted and had a wonderful variety of plants and flowers.

There was a gazebo and a section with vegetables plants that according to signage provided produce for the local shelter and a school foodways program.

We wandered around for quite sometime as the plants were just perfect for enjoying and photographing and the weather was not too hot.

Some of the specimen plants were in full flower:

This Anise Hyssop is called Golden Jubilee with a great yellow green color to the leaves.

Their Borage was flowering with abandon and I wanted desperately to harvest it, but-- not my garden.

This Speedwell was a golden color called Veronica Aztec Gold.  Someone loved gold plant varieties like I do which only made me happier to have stopped.  

This is a golden Lemon Balm which I have wanted to acquire for a long time.

The grounds were criss-crossed by paths that allowed you to wander around and enjoy the various garden spaces and circle back to see them more than once.

The best thing about this garden was that the plants were well marked.  I could find out the species and the variety for many, which was great for making a plant wish list.

They used several types of markers.  This one identified this plant as Creeping St. John's Wort.  A new plant for me.

Here it is flowering!

There were Sunflowers, Oat Grass and Seagrass, as well as new echinacea hybrids and a nice selection of shrubs around the gazebo.

And one of my favorite parts of the garden, was the walking path with several varieties of creeping thyme all in flower.  I walked back and forth through here for more time than my husband had tolerance for.  He escaped to the gazebo to wait for me to stop stroking the plants.

The website for the Southwest Indiana Master Gardener Association has details for all their programs, upcoming activities and history of the garden and club.  There have been some additions to the garden since I visited in 2014 which might draw me back to see it again.  They have added a sensory garden which I am sure is full of herbs and scented plants.  If you visit Evansville, Indiana, I recommend stopping to see this garden located beside the Eykamp Boy Scout Center at 3501 E. Lloyd Expressway in Evansville, IN.

The next post for National Garden month is here.

Our previous post on the Elkhart, Indiana Wellfield Botanic Garden is here.