Acid Garden

The Acid Garden highlights plants that prefer low pH (acidic) soils.  Acidic soils are difficult to achieve and maintain in the naturally high-lime Midwest.  Most of these plants are native to marsh or swamp-like conditions.  Many of the plants in this garden are small-scale "woodies" such as Rhododendron, Azalea and Deciduous Holly (Ilex verticillata).

The purple flowers of Rhododendron 'PJM' along the edge of the pond are the first to bloom followed by deciduous azalea (Rhododendron 'Rosy Lights'), growing over the evergreen mat of bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia).  The acid garden has deciduous holly (Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite') and its male pollen provider.  The female plant produces bright red berries in the autumn, which persist throughout most of the winter.