Kathi Keidel pictured in the front yard of her home located at 810 Park Street on the south side of Dysart last Thursday afternoon. Keidel’s flowers were recently designated ‘Flowers of the Month’ for July by the Dysart Garden Club. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

DYSART – The Dysart Garden Club recently named Kathi Keidel’s perennial filled flower beds on Park Street as the club’s ‘Blue Ribbon Flowers of the Month’ for July.

“I’ve been a gardener my whole life. My grandma kind of got me hooked,” Keidel said last week while taking the newspaper on a tour of her 810 Park Street yard which is brimming with native perennial flowers including purple coneflower alongside many a farmyard favorite such as sweet pea, hydrangea, and hibiscus.

While this is only Keidel’s third growing season at the Park Street address, the Dysart native said the previous owner, Marian Dostal, left behind a lovely foundation.

“She left me a good base. A lot of bulbs, a lot of perennials. I’ve been building off what Marian had.”

One of the first flowering additions Keidel added to the yard was several hydrangea bushes due to it being her “favorite of all time.” She also planted sweet pea seeds last summer. The delicate, light pink blooms are a focal point in the center of the backyard, vining around a whimsical plastic pink flamingo.

Purple coneflowers bloom in the front yard of Kathi Keidel’s front yard. The popular prairie flower was abuzz with native pollinators. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Keidel also grows lupine, daisies, mandevilla, salvia, marigolds (self-seeding), mums, and lantana – to name just a few.

Along the attached garage in the backyard, a rose bush is currently in bloom. Keidel said the bush has a special story.

“Roses are brand new to me – they were Marian’s. Dedicated to one of her daughters who passed away. So she planted them in honor of her daughter. I just couldn’t let it go.”

Next year, Keidel said she plans to have the house painted a hunter or peacock green. Along with the home’s cedar-colored roof, she hopes the new palette will help the yard’s flowers pop – both hers and those that Marian left behind.

“I’ve tried to take what Marian has given me and make it my own.”

The light pink blossoms of Kathi Keidel’s sweet peas pictured last Thursday afternoon in Dysart. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Lantana blooms along the ground in a flower bed in the backyard of Kathi Keidel’s Park Street home. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

The Dysart Garden Club’s ‘Blue Ribbon Flowers of the Month’ yard sign situated outside Kathi Keidel’s’ 810 Park Street home last Thursday. Keidel’s flower beds are filled with colorful perennial flowers. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

A hibiscus blossom on the cusp of blooming last week Thursday in Kathi Keidel’s Dysart yard. Keidel’s flowers were chosen by the Dysart Garden Club as the ‘Blue Ribbon Flowers of the Month’ for July. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Sweet peas vine around and near a plastic pink flamingo in the backyard of Kathi Keidel’s Dysart home last Thursday. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER