Noerenberg Memorial Garden
So another Minneapolis-area spot that we discovered thanks to the Garden Bloggers Fling is the Noerenberg Memorial Garden.
Now a county park, this used to be the estate of a Minnesota beer magnate. His descendants left it to the public, which was very nice of them. The park has quite a lot of lovely shoreline along Lake Minnetonka, a few miles west of Minneapolis.
There are extensive brick paths lined with exuberant flowering borders.
The flingers were in their element.
What I enjoyed most about this garden was the creative plant combinations. For example, these Baptisia seed pods with Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).
I know a lot of people consider Love-in-A-Mist (Nigella damascena) to be kind of a nuisance plant. Perhaps because I don’t grow it, I find it to be really charming. It’s wonderful here with the Salvia and grasses.
Not sure what that purple annual is, but it’s a fantastic companion for the ‘Blonde Ambition’ Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis).
Allium seedheads with Purple Coneflower and Calamint (Calamintha nepetoides). The fine textured, glowing Calamint looks really good with the dark, solid Coneflowers.
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) rising up out of the Salvia – looks like some giant blue-headed creature emerging from the sea. After this I was compelled to get some Blue Vervain of my very own. It’s a host for Common Buckeye butterflies, by the way.
Not a combination, but a nice patch of Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea).
This is definitely a garden worth checking out if you are in the Minneapolis region.
gardeninacity 
The purple plant with the grama grass is verbena b. It looks like a dwarf variety. I loved this garden. :o)
Thanks for the ID! I forgot that there were dwarf varieties.
Beautiful garden! Thank you so much for sharing this lovely tour! 🙂
You’re welcome!
Oh, dear, I feel like the wet blanket… I didn’t like the nigella and salvia combo at all. But I am sorry I missed this fling — clearly there are many fine gardens in Minneapolis that I missed.
There’s one I haven’t written about yet – a sort of private sculpture garden maintained by the artist – that you would have fallen in love with.
Aaaahhhhhhh Summer. I miss you already 🙂
Love that there are a few summer flowering shrubs to add height to the border. That and the lakefront setting and it’s a garden hard to beat!
Yes, I think mixing smaller shrubs into a border is a good idea if you have the space.
How delightful would it be to have a gazebo overlooking the water like that? Yummy border behind the bending photographer.
I think the Hydrangea really makes it work so well.
The clump of Echinacea is outstanding!
I thought so, too.
I love that gazebo looking over the water. Your photos have reminded me to look out for purple coneflowers, they are a plus in any garden.
An excellent garden plant. There are many cultivars, though I really prefer the straight species.
Lovely combinations. And glimpses of a beautiful summer’ s day.
It was a beautiful day. Nice to remember as we hunker down for winter.
What a nice tour for the end of November! Thanks so much, Jason.
You’re welcome!
I enjoyed this garden a lot (what’s new??) 🙂 I really loved the Nigella too – I didn’t know what it was so had to ask. What’s ironic is that I am very familiar with it in the kitchen (as in Nigella/kalonji seeds) but had no idea that’s where they came from.
Huh – I had no idea Nigella was used in cooking!
Looks like the perfect garden to enjoy on a sunny summer day. You highlighted some nice plant and flower combos, too. That picture of the ‘Blonde Ambition’ reminds me I need to do something about mine, which appears to have largely given up trying – so much for ambition.
Perhaps you have a new variety – ‘Blonde Indifference’.
We really enjoyed this lovely garden! I enjoyed sitting in the gazebo looking out at the lake. Thank you for the photos and reminding me of this garden!
It was such a calm and lovely lake surrounded by so much deep green.
What a lovely fling, that gazebo overlooking the water is gorgeous. Some lovely plants here.xxx
We should all have gazebos overlooking our own lakes, I think.
I like those borders and this post made me wish it was summer again!
Keep wishing, just seven months to go.
No, just three. December, January and February, meteorologically speaking.
Until meteorological spring, that is. Meteorological summer starts on June 1st.
Love all those grasses!
Me too! Btw, are my comments going into your spam folder again?
Makes me long for summer. Beautiful.
Agreed.
Oh yes, love this kind of garden. The combinations are lovely. That purple plant looks like Verbena bonariensis to me. You should try growing Nigella – it pops up in unexpected places if allowed to go to seed and I look forward to seeing it each year. 🙂
I did throw some Nigella seed about in the spring but none of it germinated. I may give it another try.
Another lovely tour. I enjoy seeing the different plant combinations.
Thanks.