"Sunken Victorian Garden"

The original dairy barn foundation is the site for what we are calling the "Sunken Victorian Garden." It will feature heirloom annuals and perennials and climbing vines on the recently constructed arbor. The front portion will feature additional structures to support climbing heirloom roses. The large rocks and the foundation, sections forming the entrance were taken from an historic barn recently torn down in Lake in the Hills which is being turned into a public park.

The concrete garden ornaments were made from older molds dating from the 1950's from a local home based business and are not generally available at commercial garden centers.

To the left of the garden is a shade garden area featuring native-shade and savanna (semi shade) plants. Native bushes line the area in front of the pine trees further to the left and on the far left behind the split rail fence is a native prairie area developed by installation of live plants grown from seed on the premises. The plants in this area are in their third year of life, their second year in the ground. They tend to bloom in the late summer.

On the right side of the Sunken Garden, running along the taller of the foundation walls, is an area planted with native prairie plants, including a "short grass" prairie area in the front. One of the more interesting plants there is the "Lead Plant", so named because the flowers in their seed stage tend to resemble small lead pellets. Also featured near the back is the "Compass Plant" whose leaves tend to point in a North/South direction at all times. Early travelers to the prairie used this plant to tell directions on the otherwise featureless plains. 

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