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S a i n t J o h n s A b b e y
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GARDEN I NFO
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Saint John’s Abbey Garden Tours Garden and Plant List ☆ - GREAT HALL PLANTERS • Black Sweet Potato Vine • Green Sweet Potato Vine • Coleus • Geranium • White Lobularia • Super Wave Petunia 1 - ABBOT'S GARDEN • White Alyssum • Roses • Peony • Astilbe • Hostas • Iris • Lilies 2 - WEST CLOISTER GARDEN • Five-color zinnias • Red Salvia • Blue Salvia • Begonia Whisky mix • Bonanza Marigold mix • Gayfeather • Astilbe • Goats Beard • Mums • Ligularia • Lilies • Hostas • Coral Bells 3 - HUMPHREY GARDENS Humphrey Plaza Gardens • Hostas along Walkway • Astilbe • Coralbells Humphrey Sunken Garden • Hostas along Walkway • Hostas (Interior) • Ferns • Goat's Beard
4 - MARY CRESCENT GARDEN • Mammoth Russian Sunflower • Lambs Ear • Red Salvia • Red Celosia • Blue Salvia • Bonanza Marigold mix • Coleus mix • Daylilies • Mums • Iris • Huskers Red Penstemon 5 - MARY GARDEN PLANTER • Red Salvia • Bonanza Marigold mix 6 - SEXTON SQUARE GARDENS • Red Nasturtium • Blue Salvia • Begonia Whisky mix Planters • Wave Petunia • Green Sweet Potato • Black Sweet Potato • Coleus • Geranium • White Lobularia 7 - KNOLL GARDEN (STAIRS) • Blue Browallia • Saucy Red celosia • White Petunia • Yellow Indian Marigolds • Happy Days Marigolds • Saucy Red Salvia • Blue Salvia • Red Begonia • White Alyssum • Zinnia Five-color mix • Sedum/Stone Flower • Daylilies • Grasses
8 - SEXTON WATER GARDEN • Water Lilies • Canna Lily • Common Rush • Irises • Lizards tail • Water Forget-me-nots 9 - GREG HOUSE GARDEN • Dianthus Telstar • Coleus 10 - LUKE HALL GARDENS • Bonanza Marigolds • Red Celosia • Begonia mix
(10 - LUKE HALL GARDENS CONTINUED) • Coleus • Blue Browallia • Blue Salvia • Red Salvia • Red Celosia • Benary Giant Zinnia • Five-color mix Zinnia • Coneflower • Calendula • Russian Sage • Lilies • Roses • Ditch Daisies • Spirea • Coreopsis
11 - 1867 MONASTERY GARDEN This garden is approximately 100 feet long and lines the western foundation of the oldest building on campus. The building’s basement and first two floors were finished in 1867. Certainly, there were gardens on the east (opposite) side of the building as that was the front of Saint John’s Abbey for many years. As you look at the garden, the little doorway to your left was the brothers' entrance as they departed and returned from the shops, fields, pastures, and barns. This garden, at least in more recent times, was therefore referred to as the brother’s garden. The white phlox and false hibiscus were present when the garden was restored over ten years ago, as were the hollyhocks. The false hibiscus is just beginning to bloom, and the white and fuchsia phlox is on its way as well. In addition to all the above, you will also see two new Shasta daisy plants added last year are liking their location. When the garden was restored, it was filled with orange daylilies, which was no easy task to remove. Think concrete sidewalk. The five trellises support different clematis, which are just becoming established. This may be year four for them. The sizeable purple bush, just beginning to bloom, is a butterfly bush. Several peonies are spectacular in the early summer. Various lilies are also present, along with red bee balm. The white phlox, false hibiscus, and a number of sedum plants have been split to even out their presence. My monkish tendencies steer away from the expense of bedding plants; therefore, for the most part, only perennials are present. The challenge this presents is how to have color all summer long. It is a work in process, and true to Benedictine tradition, in this respect, I am not in a hurry. The concrete birdbath was designed and built by Br. Simon Hoa’ Phan, OSB. GARDEN OF: Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer
12 - SLAGGIE PATIO GARDEN Facing garden LEFT (West) to RIGHT (East) (Subject to the dining of squirrels, chipmunks, turkeys, and deer.) • Lilies of the Valley, Creeping Charlie • Coneflowers • Miniature Day Lillies • Red Colleus, Potato Vine, (Planter), Ice Plant • Hosta (variety, fringing the garden) • Asian Lilies, Easter lilies, Colleus • Rubeccia • Flax: Pink and White • Red Cana, Begonias • Ligularia (Rocket), two varieties, Asian Lilies • Japanese Lilies, purple • Day Lilies (variety)
(12 - SLAGGIE PATIO GARDEN CONTINUED) • White giant Hydrangea • Colleus (planter) • Marigolds 13 - MARY GROTTO (STAIRS) Pollinator Mix of native Flowers and Grasses, that was seeded in July 2020. We did this to bring in more bees and butterflies and also eliminate having to mow the steep Grotto hill. 14 - EMMAUS HALL GARDEN • Begonia • Blue Saliva • Coleus mix • Red Celosia • Marigold mix
15 - MARY GARDEN (NO PATH) This garden was established during the early Great Depression in 1931 around the same time the beautiful stonewall was being completed. The monks built the wall and, subsequently, the garden under the supervision of Brother Joachim Watrin, OSB. The stone wall was built along County Road 159, which, at the time, ran through this area. The wall was constructed to separate the public county road from the private area of the monastery's back lawn. When the wall went up, the garden was established by digging out this area to accommodate this private section on the monastery lawn. Since its establishment, the garden has expanded a bit. Due to its poor condition, in 1982 the pond was replaced with the current enlarged pond. The water source for the pond is Lake Sagatagan. Water from the lake is pumped to the stone water tower next to the prep school. The water tower provides lake water for watering all the campus lawns. Regarding the fishpond, water from the prep water tower is piped to the fountain in the center of the back yard of the monastery, located to the north of the Mary Garden. Water fills the fountain, and the overflow is piped underground to the Mary Garden Pond. The overflow from the Mary Garden Pond goes back to the lake. Recycled!! The pond is stocked with goldfish. The garden is primarily a shaded garden, at least when it was established. Over the past thirty years, trees have come and gone, making the garden a mix of shade and sun. The primary vegetation is hostas of several varieties. A few annuals are planted to bring flashes of color. A few native plants are in the garden: Minnesota’s State Flower, the Showy Lady Slippers, which bloom in June, and even a few Yellow Slippers, formerly referred to as “Yellow Indian Moccasins.” Large leaf Ligurlaria dominate the garden's south and southwest areas, with green-topped and purple bottom leaves. Also, Rodgersia, with its leathery-looking leaves are found east of the Ligularia. Wild ginger is slowly taking over some ground areas. And, of course, there are many ferns beside the hostas. The garden is surrounded on its edge by a few trees. To the south and along the stone wall are weeping spruce. Seeds from trees from Germany’s Black Forest trees were planted in the early years of the last century to provide for these trees. To the north of the garden are a few Japanese lilac trees, the two older ones planted in the 1980s, and one planted in the early 2000s. Also, a cork tree is planted to the east of the ring entry, and some birch grow just east of the cork tree. These were planted by the late Fr. Paul
Schwietz, OSB, in the early 1990s. Just beyond these trees, to the north and east, are five ornamental crab apple trees, damaged two years ago by some baby raccoons (kits) climbing the young trees in search of small berry-sized crabapples. A statue of the Virgin Mary presides over the garden. If you have been to the baptistry of the Abbey Church, you will have already met her cousin, John the Baptist. The familial resemblance is striking! Both were crafted by expressionist sculptor Doris Caesar (1892 – 1971), an artist based in NYC. The statue was commissioned at the time of the construction of the Abbey Church, itself completed and dedicated in 1961. Originally intended for the Mary Chapel in the church, when the Mabon Madonna was gifted to the Abbey for the church, the Caesar statue of Mary was moved outside and eventually found her place in the Mary Garden. Given her striking nontraditional appearance, a good number of monks and laity, have given her the tongue-in-cheek moniker of “Scary Mary”. Some individuals have claimed that her official title is “Mary, Queen of Peace” since she holds an olive branch in her right hand. Still, others claim it isn’t Mary, but Eve in the Garden of Eden, supposedly because of her location in this lush garden. Recently, one monk claimed that the statue’s official name is “Mary’s Fiat” (“Let it be done”). So, in the end, perhaps the choice of name is in the eye of the beholder. Nonetheless, due to the statue, the garden itself is often referred to as the “Scary Mary Garden,” though occasionally some refer to the garden as the “Fishpond Garden,” others the “Sunken Garden,” and still others the “Rock Garden.” It is not surprising that the name that most recognized and use is, to the chagrin of some and as you might guess, the “Scary Mary Garden.” A recent arrival in the garden is the small statue of Buddha on the east side of the garden. He reigns over a selection of mouse ear hostas sized for the statue. The entry into the garden is through a circled arch, symbolic of the abbatial ring, a ring traditionally worn by the abbot upon election. To the north, in the center of the monastery lawn, you will see the fountain, with its arches, which is symbolic of the abbot’s miter, the headgear worn by abbots (like that which a bishop wears). Both the stone ring and stone miter were constructed in 1931. Finally, on the west side of the Mary Garden is a bench with stone supports. A bit weathered and in need of rehabilitation, the bench, too, has been in place since the 1930s. Father Geoffrey Fecht, OSB, has maintained the Mary Garden since 1982, the year he completed his novitiate and took simple vows. 16 - FOUNTAIN (GRAVEL PATH) The stone arch entryway to the Mary Garden, the fountain, and the sundial are images of the Benedictine monastic life, following the leadership of an abbot. The stone arch is modeled after the abbot's ring; the fountain takes its shape from the abbot miter; the sundial makes the best out of an unfortunate situation. Initially, this piece stood taller following the likeness of the abbot's crosier – until it fell over.
17 - LITURGICAL PRESS • Begonia mix • Marigold mix • Blue Browallia • Red Nasturtium • Goats Ear • Red Celosia • Coleus mix • Five-color Zinnia mix in back • Wave Petunias • Dianthus Telstar • Lilies • Ditch Daisies • Ligularia • Hydrangea • Purple Coneflower • Pink Sedum 18 - FRANK WALL • Yellow Marigolds • Blue Salvia • Red Salvia • Red Begonia • White Begonia • Benary Giant Zinnia • Five-color Zinnia
(18 - FRANK WALL CONTINUED) • Bleeding Heart • Monkshood • Lilies • Joe Pye • Ligularia • Astilbe • Peony • Coralbells • Cimicifuga • Hostas • Ferns • Roses 19 - ABBEY QUAD GARDEN • Begonia mix • Blue Salvia • Five-color Zinnias • Coleus mix • Red salvia • Red celosia • Hostas • Japanese Lilac Tree • Bleeding Heart • Peony • Hydrangeas • Lilies
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