mosaic Monday...public garden tour

It's Monday so that means it is time once again to join Mary, at the Little Red House for mosaic Monday. Please click HERE to see all the other wonderful blogs and the mosaics created this week.

This week, I have a dozen mosaics created with photos I took yesterday as Jeff and I walked the late September beauty of Clemens & Munsinger Gardens in St. Cloud, MN.I have shown you these gardens many times before in all seasons but new this year is a statue of Bill and Virginia Clemens as shown above. The Clemens gardens were a gift to the city from them and a place of enjoyment for Virginia. The following comes from the garden society's website..."When a plot of land came up for sale across the street from the home of Bill and Virginia Clemens they purchased it and then donated the land to the City of St. Cloud Park Department. Known for her love of roses and flowers, the late Virginia Clemens battled multiple sclerosis for more than 40 years. As a true act of love, and a way to give something back to the community Bill Clemens funded the establishment of and continues to fund the Clemens Gardens. In 1990 Bill and Virginia Clemens funded the construction of the rose garden, purchased 1100 rose bushes, and even paid the wages for a rose grower. This led to the development of the Virginia Clemens Rose Garden, which is now part of six separate gardens along Kilian Boulevard that make up the Clemens Gardens." The statue shows them looking at the Virginia Clemens Rose Garden.

Next up, is the Rest Area Garden below featuring the Renaissance Fountain.
Then we walk into the Formal Garden which features the Windsor Court Fountain.
Next up is the White Garden where we also saw a lady with a white dog and she kept telling those with her that it was Sparky's garden...assuming the white dog here is named Sparky :)
From the white garden we walk into the Perennial Garden which includes a replica of a pre-civil war fountain patterned after one in Columbus, Georgia. Of all the gardens, this one was showing it's late September wear and tear the most. Like my own, most of the perennials are done blooming and have been cut back but they also have the self seeders like Kiss Me Kate and that cool looking plant that I am assuming is some type of amaranth. I admit I snitched a few seeds off that one. The hardy hibiscus were dinner plate sized and also a favorite!
The last garden area in the Clemens gardens is the Treillage Garden. The arbor treillage is 104 feet long and has a central dome 24 feet high, and is surrounded by four one-color gardens. Under the central dome of the treillage is the Three Graces Fountain. First up is the yellow garden...
followed by the blue one.
Then we visit the pink/purple corner before...
checking out the reds! I sure envy those hibiscus once again as I have no luck having them winter over in my garden and I have tried numerous times.
Next we headed down the wooded path and across the street to the Munsinger Garden. It was established by the city alongside the Mississippi River in 1915 at the site of a former sawmill. These gardens are so relaxing to stroll through in the shade of the large trees.
There are structures built by the WPA during the great depression...
and lots of new benches and swings built as memorials by families for beautiful places to rest and enjoy the beauty of the park and the river.

If you are ever in central MN, I highly encourage visiting these gardens. They are at their peak in July/August but the gardeners employed and volunteering here make sure that every season is visit worthy!

Hard to believe that there are only 3 days of September left and we will be touring my Oct 1st garden on Thursday...hopefully the scattered frost predicted the next several nights will stay away for one last tour of the 2009 season.