By Denise Ellsworth
Special to the Beacon Journal
Every gardener needs a bit of inspiration — a few good ideas or new plants to try. Gather some ideas later this month by participating in the 11th annual Summit County Tour of Gardens.
This year’s tour will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 25 and will visit six gardens in southwestern Summit County. Tour participants will have a chance to see unique solutions to familiar problems and an opportunity to meet and talk with like-minded gardeners.
Sponsored by the Master Gardeners of Summit County, the tour benefits the organization’s horticultural education programs and grants to community gardens. A glimpse at some of the
gardens on tour this year (garden descriptions provided by garden owners):
All in the family
This is a family of plant lovers. The owners operate a lawn care company and their daughter works at a nearby garden center. Mom and daughter share a passion for gardening and often swap favorite plants. Their interest in new and different plants has brought an eclectic blend of plant materials into this natural setting. Siberian pea tree, weeping birch, weeping redbud, European beeches, fringe trees and a dappled willow are just a sampling of the unique trees in this garden.
After a long day caring for other people’s gardens, he’s not much interested in gardening, but she can’t wait to get into the garden — she spends nearly every spare minute there. In the last 11 years, her interest in gardening has grown to include birds, butterflies and all wildlife (with the exception of raccoons). Her favorite space to sit and relax is by the pond, watching the fish, frogs and dragonflies.
The rose garden
At the young age of 9, this garden’s owner began gardening in this location, thanks to a school gardening program. As an adult, he bought his parents’ home and now grows his favorite plants in his childhood home. So on and off, this gardener has been growing in this space for some 35 years.
In the 1980s, the gardener joined the Akron Rose Society, and ”the fever took off,” resulting in a confirmed rose-a-holic. He adds 50 to 75 roses each year, with close to 200 total individual rose bushes. Five years ago, he added a 4,000-gallon pond with three waterfalls and an assortment of aquatic plants and fish.
The owner does all the gardening himself, working from a master plan that he says is, ”in my head and is always changing and evolving.” When the day is ending, he enjoys sitting on the bench by the pond to ”take in the wonders that He has wrought.”
The artists’ retreat
Gardening slowly began on this fallow site in 2006, mostly in an effort to take the land back from the weeds and to slow down the runoff of water. The serious gardening began in 2008 with the building of garden structures and cleaning out the woods to allow the native ferns and flowers to spread.
A young garden, it is densely planted with young trees, shrubs and flowers that won’t see their potential until well into the future.
The owners, Marcia and Dana, have collaborated on the design of this landscape. Inspiration and hardscape materials come from this site wealthy in stone, water and wood. The desire to learn and practice sustainable gardening — creating habitat in the process — has been the foundation of the overall plan.
Much of the gardening knowledge and the love of it Marcia learned from her parents. Marcia and Dana, oftentimes after vigorous debate, seem to have a touch for gardening with results they both enjoy. For both of them, the woodlands of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (their home states) have determined a number of new plant choices.
Interspersed in the landscape are today’s requisite outdoor rooms so that the whole can be enjoyed.
Where Marcia and Dana want to be in their two-acre garden depends not only on the time of day, but the season, although the dining pergola and relaxing pond area are fast becoming perennial favorites. Besides the six gardens on tour, the day includes a visit to the Master Gardeners’ Posie Shoppe, featuring plants, books and garden accessories for sale.
Tickets for this year’s Tour of Gardens are $15 and available at area garden centers including Graf’s in Copley Township, Dayton’s in Norton, Donzell’s in Akron and Suncrest in Peninsula.
To order by mail, send a check for $15 and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Penny Marquette, P.O. Box 707, Bath, OH 44210. For more information, call 234-525-7034.
Denise Ellsworth is a horticultural educator with Ohio State University Extension. If you have questions about caring for your garden, call the Master Gardener hot line from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Thursdays at 330-928-GROW or write: Horticulture Educator, Summit County, 2525 State Road, Suite 250, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223. Include your phone number. Email questions to mgsummit@ag.ohio-state.edu.