GARDENER'S HOUSE PERENNIAL BED

The Gardener's house plant beds in the 1920's. JYU Science museum archives.

There has been a planting bed on the warm wall of the gardener's house since at least the 1920s. The seminary gardeners who lived in the house have probably grown edible plants and flowers that require heat here. Today the bed is home to traditional perennials found in the garden during the renovation of the Seminaarinmäki park areas. The photo is probably from the 1920s (JYU Science Museum archive).

Here are some good tips for a traditional plant bed:

-early summer bloomers like Siberian poppy (Papaver croceum), dwarf irises (Iris pumila), columbines (Aquilegia vulgaris) and small bulb flowers such as grape hyacinths (Muscari spp.).

-In the midsummer, the orange lily (Lilium bulbiferum), spiked speedwell (Veronica spicata) and various bellflowers, such as the nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium).

-For the end of summer, tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium), autumn flowering asters (Aster novi-belgii), background color for the bed from Virginia creepers (Parthenocissus quinquefolia).