by GardenLover | Jun 29, 2012 | Catch Us
September 2012
Michael Leach
- Michael will present “Celebrate the Seasons — Make Your Garden Festive from Labor Day to Easter” at 3 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 9) at the Home & Garden Show and Holiday Fest at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus. The show also features Genevieve Gorder of HGTV’s Design Star, and a program on holiday cookies by the Dispatch Kitchen’s Robin Davis and Dino Tripodis from Sunny 95. (For more information, please visit www.dispatchevents.com).
Debra Knapke
For the fall semester at Columbus State Community College, Debra is teaching a new class — The Science of Plants.
Teresa Woodard
Check out Teresa’s recent magazine stories:
- “Living Legacies” (Native trees for Ohio landscapes), Ohio Magazine Sept. 2012
- “Daffodil Dividends” (a bulb planting primer), a Grapevine Balls Tutorial and “Fall Finale” (a Westerville, Ohio garden profile), Ohio Gardener Sept./Oct. 2012
by GardenLover | Jun 27, 2012 | Favorite Flora, Gardens to Drive, Guest blog
Highlights from Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden
The Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden® is one of the coolest corners of downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Located at BHG headquarters, the Test Garden is a half-acre display of new varieties mixed with tried-and-true favorites.
Because we don’t do much spraying or treating, it’s also a fantastic tool for getting a sense of what really does well here in Iowa and the Midwest. Some reblooming hydrangeas, for example, don’t bloom at all (much less produce multiple waves of flowers) and others are garden rock stars. The hydrangea collection – about 30 varieties – is looking particularly stunning, especially standouts ‘Pink Shira’, Endless Summer ‘Blushing Bride’, and ‘Haye’s Starburst’.
I love walking through the Test Garden in summer and looking at all the different coneflowers. It’s fun to see how new varieties, such as ‘Hot Papaya’ stand up to the tried-and-true varieties. (‘Hot Papaya’, by the way, totally does — the color is a garden showstopper, and it’s delightfully fragrant, too.)
Coneflower (Echinacea) ‘Hot Papaya’
The lilies are also looking outstanding right now; the new breeds of Orienpet (Oriental/trumpet hybrids) offer good looks and a great fragrance. In fact, I smelled the intoxicating fragrance of golden-yellow ‘Belladonna’ before I saw it in the garden this morning!
Belladonna Lily
Like much of the Midwest, we’re well ahead of schedule; it’s weird to be in June and seeing the phlox, Russian sage, and even some asters blooming.
If you’d like to visit the Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden®, it’s open from 12-2 p.m. every Friday from May to October and located at 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.
Justin Hancock is the garden editor for BHG.com, the website of Better Homes & Gardens.
by GardenLover | Jun 22, 2012 | Gardens to Drive
B
y Michael Leach
My childhood dream of becoming an architect ended when I failed pre-calculus twice, the second time despite tutoring. Yet I still harbor one dream from that freshman year in college: Explore the architectural treasure trove in Columbus, IN. Turns out there are gardens and parks, too.
Architectural masters, such as I.M. Pei, Richard Meier, Robert Venturi and Eliel and Eero Saarinen, left a legacy, thanks to the largess of the Cummins Engine Foundation, which paid design fees for many of the works. The place is such an embarrassment of riches , it wins raves from the American Institute of Architects to National Geographic Traveler.
Landscape designers, such as Michael Van Valkenburgh, are also represented. And while we’re name dropping, let’s not omit Henry Moore and Dale Chihuly, among the artists with works found around town.
A personal favorite among architects is Eero Saarinen, the son of the Finish design duo. His arch in St. Louis is perhaps his best-known design. But Columbus has three of his works, including the Miller House and Garden. Now owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and open to the public. This 1957 classic is surrounded by an equally impressive Modernist garden created by landscape architect Dan Kiley.
For those visiting Columbus on Sunday (June 28), there’s a tour of six private lakeside gardens.
After ogling gardens, landscapes and structures, consider Eisbury’s Greenhouses and Garden Center, said to be one of Indiana’s largest retail-wholesale greenhouses. Or check out other area attractions, such as the Edinburgh Premium Outlets and Indiana’s largest antique mall.
For more information on Columbus and environs, please visit the visitor and convention bureau .
by GardenLover | Jun 20, 2012 | Gardens to Drive
By Michael Leach
More than 50 springs have passed since I began gardening but planting seeds remains my favorite part of the process.
Science says germination results from the right combination of light, temperature, moisture, soil conditions and time. I don’t know what you think, but to me, it’s mostly magic. Cover the seeds with soil, water, wait and watch for the tiny green shoots as fragile, persistent and tough as life itself.
You can enhance the “magic” with materials almost as bizarre as “eye of newt and toe of frog.” Coffee grounds, shredded newspaper, rotted barnyard manure, grass clippings, chopped leaves, vegetable peelings and garden soil are part of my “potion” for making compost. Not only am I “upcycling” cast-offs, such materials are readily available — unlike frog toes.
Compost boosts the countless legions of beneficial soil-borne microorganisms and nudges clay or sandy soil closer to that ideal combination of moisture retentive and free draining.
Before planting in the vegetable garden, I spread an inch or two layer of compost over the site and till it in with a hoe. Perennial and shrub beds and borders are blanketed each fall under a layer of chopped leaves that invariably include grass clippings. This is what I consider horizontal composting. By early the next summer, earth worms and other soil dwellers will have transformed the leaves into organic matter and mixed it into the soil. Over the years I’ve gotten closer to having that ideal mix. 
Without intervention, however, soil returns to its original state. Clay soil becomes a place where tiny roots, only a few cells thick, can’t penetrate. Sandy soil dries out long before those mysterious forces trigger germination. Even if shoots appear, little in the way of water and nutrients will be found to nourish and sustain life.
So avoid the frustration. Take advantage of a little compost magic to help the roots along and ensure lush foliage and fruits.
by GardenLover | Jun 16, 2012 | Happenings
German Village Haus and Garten Tour
Here’s a quick way to steal gardening ideas
By Teresa Woodard
This summer, garden gates across the Midwest will open to welcome guests for tours. In search of inspiration, I attend several tours and walk away with a list of ideas and renewed motivation to spruce up my own garden. Here are several don’t-miss tours.
What’s your favorite garden tour?
September 2012
