Margie Ann’s inspiring and fun Minnesota garden

Meeting Margie Ann

Come take a virtual tour of Margie Ann’s Minnesota garden.

Margie Ann Rousu, a faithful member of Flea market Gardening for yeears, says, “I come from a family of gardeners and both of my grandmothers had lovely huge gardens. They both lived in the country and had dairy cattle. Now, I live and garden on the edge of the prairie that stretches out to Fargo-Moorhead area in Northwest Central Minnesota.

I live on 70 acres in the hardwood forest, and shade is mostly what I have in my yard. My husband is a third generation maple syrup producer. We used to handle a big operation, but we only make it for ourselves, now, as we get older.

I have small vegetable garden and flower beds that stretch from one side of the yard to the other. I used to call them my rivers of flowers!  When my grand dots were little, I talked the hubs into building a wooden bridge for me over one section of the garden beds.

We moved here in the summer of 1982 and I have been planting ever since. My mom and sister got me started by giving me many perennials.  This is one of my favorite vegetable garden pictures.  I have had that arbor for over 20 years. It’s covered with a Clematis and Morning Glories every summer now.

My dad’s mom had the most awesome gardens I have ever seen. Her garden was full of flowering fruit trees and flowers and I don’t know where she found the time to keep everything weed free and all.  Both my dad and mom loved gardening and put in huge vegetable gardens.

 

My mom took my four siblings and me and moved to town when I was nine. My father had a total breakdown after he came back from Korea and Mom had to raise us as a single parent. She grew most of our food in a huge garden complete with a very large berry patch.

 

 

Margie Ann says “I love these…I just added a crystal suncatcher to my watering can and  when there’s a breeze and the sun’s shining it makes them move and look like real water pouring.”

 

My old child’s bike I painted red white and blue for my July project challenge for my patriotic vignette…I added baskets of flowers front and back.

 

I got started collecting junk in the garden with two old wheelbarrows, an old push-type digger and a few other things that my mother and sister gave me.

I actually was using these old things and had started to purchase more when I retired from my job as museum assistant and opened a little shop in our Antique Mall about five years ago.  Now, I have some really fun Flea Market finds that I found while working at that Mall. I also go to the large Flea Market just south of our town every summer!

 

 

 

Margie Ann who lives in northern Minnesota (zone 3) shared a wonderful photo filled with autumn colors this past week! Her bird feeder is awaiting visitors as it overlooks beautiful tall phlox blooms. Margie Ann grows five colors of tall phlox though only two are pictured here.

 

Anyway about the time I started the shop I also discovered Flea Market Gardening and it’s been one of my greatest discoveries!

 

 

I love all the fantastic ideas people come up with and it makes the winter go faster seeing everyone’s beautiful gardens!

 

Margie Ann says, “I love the birds as much as my flowers and feed them year round! Last fall I made a feeding station to which I added a little fall decor this afternoon. The top is from a air conditioner and works really well for hanging feeders from and I also put solar lights on . The colored rounds are solar lights

The garden craft ideas are such fun and I’ve so enjoyed the project challenges and making fun things for my garden.

I love the people I have met through Flea Market Gardening, as well . It’s such a great group of people and I look forward to all the new ideas and sharing my gardens.

Margie Ann’s pond

Here is the pond garden before I overhauled it last summer…it needed it.  In front of the sunroom, I put in a concrete pond built from recycled materials. It cracked after a couple years and I had to make a new one that’s fortunately still doing well. When I put this pond in, I used the black pond liner and it’s never had a leak.

That was a project I did all alone from digging to the landscaping so it’s totally my creation!

 

 

 

This is me, with my sister’s sheltie, in my first flower bed which was designed around a large rock.  I spread two of my ‘flower rivers’ out from there.

I have been married for 47 years now …to the same guy! My husband is not into gardening and is a caretaker of a forty-five acre estate on a lake forty miles from here, so I do most of the outdoor chores and planting here myself.

I now have a whole shed full of garden décor, both FMG and new, and it’s all the fault of the FMG family! I am so thankful for you all as you really stirred up that part of gardening in me that’s been so much fun!!