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This is a very eclectic and diverse garden paradise, 30 years in the making. A wonderful greenhouse, which overwinters 1000 geraniums each year and grows about 80% of her annuals from seed, is in the backyard. There is much garden art including a giant swing, a 288 bottle tree, a metal wizard, a very large metal dragon, concrete statuary, an engraved wood temple and various mannequins. There is a native garden and every “Hosta of the Year” hostas planted. 

Flowers, plants and art incorporated in their patriotic garden are red, white and blue. The garden is three years old, bordered by woods on three sides, and you would never know it is so young! The garden has large boulder retaining walls in front and stone pavers around the fire pit and rocks edging the side and back garden beds, all color coordinated in shades of blue. They take great pride in incorporating plants, food sources and natural areas where the birds and butterflies can flourish and live. The garden has a lovely assortment of trees, shrubs, perennials on a large berm they had created, and containers of colorful annuals mixed in as punctuation marks. 

As a landscape business owner and designer, her access to plants and curative eye for design has produced multiple beds of diversity that flow together in one yard. There is an orchard of peaches, pears, apples, cherries, blueberries, raspberries and an espaliered tree, next to a vegetable garden. A dry creek bed flows across the front of the house, bordered by huge slate boulders, interwoven with shrubs, perennials, grasses and evergreens.  At the front door, you are greeted by her Larch Bonsai, twelve years in the making and pink Lady Slipper orchids that she has grown for the past quarter century. The owner caters to her butterfly and bird friends with butterfly weed and bird feeders. 

This garden is the essence of country charm. Shrub and perennial beds surround the entire home and driveway. Large containers of annuals add color and are interspersed throughout the yard. Some of the annual containers are upcycled antiques, such as a pot bellied stove, copper kettles, whiskey barrels, old enamelware, old wagon wheels, barbed wire and old wood crates. A large LP tank is painted as a landscape that blends into the yard, painted by Pam’s artist sister. Don’t miss the new water feature. There is a beautiful screen porch that Ron made from recycled screen panels. A metal arch holds large trumpet vines. A fire pit encircled by pavers and deck provide gathering space for friends and family.

Perennials fill most of the beds, that are mulched with recycled tumbled colored glass. Stunning modern metal sculptures, several feet tall, created and welded by the gardner herself, punctuate the perennial beds!  Annuals fill dozens of overflowing colorful baskets hung from the two-story deck. Huge planters hold exotics like canna, coleus and Lofos vines. The Trappe River runs through the property, providing a beautiful backdrop. Upcycled industrial totes, filled with composted earth, full of vegetables, many started by seed, with their own watering system. At the front door, hosta beds on both sides are filled with the “giant” hosta.  A hosta bed runs about 105’ down the side of the shed. An apple orchard is by the road.

The North Central Wisconsin Master Gardeners Association’s Shade & Hosta Garden at Monk Botanical Gardens is a unique part of the 2024 Garden Walk. It is home to 110 varieties of hosta, combined with perennial plants and shrubs, to create a peaceful garden to amble through and take a rest. Enjoy the wide variety of plants in a curving landscape design overlooking a pond. The NCWMGA Shade & Hosta Garden includes all the American Hosta Society’s ‘Hosta of the Year.’ Education signs are

interspersed for visitors wanting to learn about shade gardening. The North Central Wisconsin Master Gardeners Association sponsors this special Garden.