In this final installment about our visit to the ABG, we'll visit The Anchorage Heritage garden (Formerly "upper Perennial Garden") and part of the Junior Master Gardener Plot.
Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska is one hundred years old this year and to celebrate, a new garden has been planted in the ABG!
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![Blanchard Garden Skagway Alaska]( "Blanchard Garden Skagway Alaska")
![Blanchard Garden Skagway Alaska]( "Blanchard Garden Skagway Alaska")
Seeing the Anchorage Heritage garden brought back fond memories of gardens in my home town.
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These common but lovely mostly annual plants are perhaps a bit passé with gardeners these days but there's something very charming about them. Notice the lilacs still blooming in July in the background.
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In Alaska, the summer days are long but the growing season is quite a bit shorter than in the lower 48. Why not get the most color out of the garden while you can? This is the way folks gardened a hundred years ago (and still in the 70's in Skagway.)
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O.K. admit it, you love nasturtiums. When you were a kid, you'd take off the back of the flower and sip the nectar. (and you probably still do.) And who didn't make snap dragons talk to you? If you didn't, next time you see one, gently press the sides of the back of a floret together, the two parts of the flower will open, when you let go, it'll close. One can talk with a snap dragon for long periods of time as they almost always agree with whatever you say.
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We didn't venture into the Junior Master Gardener Plot as there was something going on there and we didn't want to intrude. Is this staircase and planter combination cool or what?
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I wonder what will be planted in the soil on either side? What a joy to be able to see a garden in process!
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And back out to the Lower Perennial Garden. Hope you enjoyed this visit to the Alaska Botanical Garden as much as I did!
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Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska is one hundred years old this year and to celebrate, a new garden has been planted in the ABG!
I grew up in Skagway, Alaska in the house that was previously the home of the Blanchards and their garden. By the time I lived there, the gardens were long gone but someone had planted some great trees, mountain ash, a couple of the few maples hardy in Alaska, and ornamental crab apples to name a few. Also the gift of the Blanchards was some of the best soil in town. Most of the valley soil is sand and river rock but there is a ribbon of deep rich soil that goes through town. I'm sure that the Blanchards amended their soil well with manure and seaweed as I did when I gardened there.
Here's a picture of Blanchard's garden. Notice that the picture was taken by Dedman. I worked in Dedman's Photo Shop for 16 years as a clerk and in the darkroom. It's possible that I exposed and developed this contact print myself with the antique equipment that was, until just a few years ago, still in use there. I also have at least one copy of this card in a box somewhere but was too lazy to go find it. Notice on the far right the nasturtiums climbing the side of the house!
This was the view from the front yard looking back. Again, the gardens were gone but Mt. Harding was still there! When I grew up in this place in the 70's, this was seen as an ideal garden style and gardeners in town emulated it.
Seeing the Anchorage Heritage garden brought back fond memories of gardens in my home town.
These common but lovely mostly annual plants are perhaps a bit passé with gardeners these days but there's something very charming about them. Notice the lilacs still blooming in July in the background.
In Alaska, the summer days are long but the growing season is quite a bit shorter than in the lower 48. Why not get the most color out of the garden while you can? This is the way folks gardened a hundred years ago (and still in the 70's in Skagway.)
O.K. admit it, you love nasturtiums. When you were a kid, you'd take off the back of the flower and sip the nectar. (and you probably still do.) And who didn't make snap dragons talk to you? If you didn't, next time you see one, gently press the sides of the back of a floret together, the two parts of the flower will open, when you let go, it'll close. One can talk with a snap dragon for long periods of time as they almost always agree with whatever you say.
It will be interesting to visit the Heritage garden again sometime to see what they do next.
We didn't venture into the Junior Master Gardener Plot as there was something going on there and we didn't want to intrude. Is this staircase and planter combination cool or what?
I wonder what will be planted in the soil on either side? What a joy to be able to see a garden in process!
Before we leave, one more look at these gorgeous things.
And back out to the Lower Perennial Garden. Hope you enjoyed this visit to the Alaska Botanical Garden as much as I did!
