At Garden Lake Resort, we are surrounded by natural beauty. But we like to add to it, too!
Dianna believes something about gardens make a place. She devotes hours tending to the eight annual beds around the cabins and on the piers and a big perennial garden next to the house and office. Perennials around the resort include hostas, old-fashioned bleeding hearts and fern leaf bleeding hearts, bluebells, peonies, lilies, irises, and day lilies. Hanging baskets and potted annuals--geraniums, canna lilies, begonias, petunias and more--can be found all around the resort.
Years ago, Mark and Dianna's oldest son--then a young boy-brought Dianna wild columbine that he dug up in the woods. It didn't come back the next year--not in the same place. Instead it shot out roots and ended up blooming in a different spot. Since then, Dianna lets it do what it will. Every year is a surprise with our wild columbine.
"Flowers are enjoyable not only for me but also for our guests," Dianna said. "They're a lot of work, but when you're done and look around, you take a deep breath and enjoy."
There are many things that make our Minnesota resort special. Our flowers are just one of them. As Dianna says, "It wouldn't seem like Garden Lake Resort without gardens and flowers."
Right now, the wildflowers along the Kawishiwi Trail that leads to our resort are all abloom. It is they--more so than the date on the calendar--that mark the start of summer.