First Days of the 2022 Fling: Prairies, Ponds, Edibles, and Ornamentals

Prairie gardens at Epic Systems campus

As I shared in my last post, the 2022 Garden Bloggers Fling was fun! It was great to be together with fellow plant lovers, and the diversity of garden types in the Madison area provided fodder for attendees—yours truly included. Prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and more are prevalent here, naturally, and are reflected in the private and public gardens, alike.

On Thursday evening, we started at the rooftop garden of the Madison Children's Museum. I admit I neglected to take any photos there, but the museum's website provides a fantastic view of what is found at the garden, and the activities that take place during the summer growing season.



The next day, Friday, we started out in one of the most impressive edible gardens I've encountered. Betsy True and Danny Aerts grow most of their own food on their one-acre property. A large fenced-in garden showcases a multitude of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, grown using diverse organic techniques.



They also keep bees and grow mushrooms, among other pursuits, so it's a productive working property.



These raised bins of greens caught my attention; definitely a technique to consider for the future. One useful aspect is that they can be moved over time and over the seasons to capture the sun and avoid rabbit damage.



Next, we headed to Linda and Phil Grosz's amazing 1 3/4-acre property, featuring a stunning pond, surrounded by prairie, woodlands, and expansive mature trees. Linda planted the prairie from seed in 1998, added the pond a few years later, and has continually added and changed plantings over the years.



The woodland gardens are artfully arranged along the edges.



The prairie lies between the house/pond area, and the woodlands. I shared a post about Linda's prairie and gardens three years ago, when we thought the Madison Fling would occur in 2020.



For lunch, we headed to the UW-Madison Arboretum. After lunch, Dr. Karen Oberhauser, Arb director, Susan Carpenter, native plant garden curator, and David Stevens, the Longenecker horticultural gardens curator presented a program and led the Fling attendees on informative tours. I'm cheating here, including a photo of a pollinator on an Arb native rose (Rosa arkansana) from a previous year. They're so fascinating to observe this time of year.

Our first destination in the afternoon was the Fitchburg garden of Rita Thomas. It had been a while since I'd visited Rita's garden, and I must admit it was full of sweet surprises. Little touches of art and welcoming mixes of sun and shade were so pleasant.



Rita's Martagon Lilies (Lilium martagon) captured the play of light so magically.



Her hostas, ferns, evergreens, grasses, and other shade-lovers were so lush and healthy.



We headed south to the former Flower Factory next. This train track with a model train is surrounded by plants and bridges and other structures. Nancy and David Nedveck operated the nursery business for more than 30 years. It was once home to more than 4,000 perennial varieties, and while they no longer sell at their property, they do sell plants at the Dane County Farmers' Market.



I loved this little miniature, posted on the handrail of a porch.



Our final stop of the day was Epic Systems in Verona. Epic employs more than 10,000 people, and the campus covers 1,100 acres, so we only saw a small portion of it. Maybe someday I'll do a post just about Epic; such a unique place.



I was happy to see so many native plants in the Epic gardens, including Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa).

One of the most impressive aspects of the Epic property is their gravel gardens, which feature unique plants, props, and designs. Many of the gardens at Epic function as green roofs over underground campus areas, including parking garages.

Next up: our Saturday itinerary.

This is just a small portion of our visits. For more coverage of the Fling, check out the Fling website.