I’ve received a few garden gifts and plants from friends that inspired me to create this unique garden. The name of this garden is “Oboikoval Prairie State Park”, a miniature state park where Mr. Gnome lives, managing a tallgrass prairie for bison, and canoeing and RVing in his free time. “Oboikoval” is a combination of my husband’s and my last name.
The gnome is from my child hood friend Liz, the bird house is from my neighbor Ann Marie, the May Apple from Pam and Mark, the violets from Pat, Bloodroot from Donna and Sedges from Grace. I added the Christmas ferns. Other tall plants seed in this garden so I try to dig them out and move them elsewhere. I gave my husband an RV bird house as a gift many years ago, only to find it’s not very bird-friendly, but it works well here . We purchased this Route 66 wind vane on one of our trips many years ago, so I added this to show the gnome lives “off the grid”( see photo 2). . Stones, gravel, stumps and wood were leftover from my yard or my jobs. The large half stump near the truck is a tunnel, like the many we’ve driven through while visiting various National Parks (see photo 1)
Children love this garden and it always puts a big smile on most adults who visit our yard. I hope these photos might inspire you to create a miniature garden like this with native plants for your kids and for the young at heart like yourself.
