Gardening: Gardens and Garden Shows

Showing posts with label Gardens and Garden Shows. Show all posts

The Columbus Park of Roses

If you have heard the saying "stop and smell the roses" then make sure that stop is at the Columbus Park of Roses. The fragrance in this park was wonderful! The Columbus Park of Roses was constructed in 1952 and it contains 13 acres of gardens. The gardens include the Main Rose Garden, perennial and herb gardens, the Heritage Garden and an Earth-Kind Demonstration Garden. The main rose garden contains over 11,000 rose bushes of 350 different varieties. The normal peak times are mid-June and mid-September. I visited the garden in early August and still found lots of roses in bloom even considering how dry, hot and humid it has been in the Midwest. The Columbus Park of Roses is one of the AARS (All-America Rose Selection, Inc) approved gardens in the United States and one of the largest municipal rose gardens in the United States.

What I enjoyed about this garden was that you could view the garden from the top of an observation tower. You then could see the Italianate formal design with roses grouped in symmetrical beds. The tower was a great place to take pictures of the garden and to just enjoy the view. I did find lots of roses that I would like to add to my rose garden. With all the roses labeled it made it easy to take photos of the rose and label to help remember those special roses that I would like to have for my garden.

'Summer Fashion'

'Julia Child'

'Strike It Rich'

'Dream Come True'

'Double Delight'

'Blast Off'

'George Burns'

If you ever visit Columbus, Ohio stop for a visit to the Columbus Park of Roses. The Park of Roses is located in Whetstone Park and it is open from dusk to dawn. There is plenty of parking and the park admission is free. Enjoy your visit and stop and smell the roses!

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

The Quilt Gardens

This past weekend I visited several of the Quilt Gardens in Northern Indiana. The gardens are located in the towns of Elkhart, Middlebury, Shipshewana, Goshen, Nappanee and Wakarusa. The gardens are designed to look like quilt patterns and are planted with lots of flowers. The gardens have around 80,000 annual flowers that are planted to make up the designs.

The Center Diamond Quilt - This garden is 40 x 60 feet in size and contains 7,728 flowers. The flowers are white and pink Begonias, Marigolds and Lobelias. It took 7 people, 84 hours over two days to plant the garden.

If you would like to visit the Quilt Gardens or see more pictures visit their web site at http://www.amishcountry.org/quiltgardens/

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

A Visit to Topiary Park

Recently I had the chance to visit a very unusual garden in Columbus, Ohio. The garden is a topiary garden that is located in the downtown area. "Topiary Park" is a seven-acre park that is known for its topiary interpretation of Georges Seurat's famous Post-Impressionist painting of "A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grand Jatte". In the photo above, you can see what the art work looks like. Now look at the next photo below and see the art come alive in topiary.

All the topiary forms are planted with yews (Taxus). The yews are trained to metal tube frames then trimmed to form the complete shape.

If you look carefully, you can see the frame work that supports the topiary.

Do you see a man sitting in a boat?

Do you see the gardener planting a plant in the pot?

Do you see the women, small child and the pet sitting on their laps?

I really enjoyed my visit to this garden. If you have the opportunity to visit Ohio, you might want to go to Columbus and visit Topiary Park. The park is free to visit and is open from dusk to dawn with plenty of parking on the street. The Topiary Park was dedicated in 1992 in what was the Old Deaf School Park.

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

If you love roses, check back for my next post on a visit to "The Park of Roses".

The Hosta Show

Several years ago, I joined the local Hosta Society. I wanted to learn more about hostas and this was a good way to learn from other more experienced growers. Every year they have a Hosta Show where you bring your very best hosta leaves and you compete with other members. I had never entered the show before but this year I decided to try. Many of the members have wonderful hosta gardens with hundreds of superb plants and I didn't think that my box store hostas where as nice as other members hosta plants. I was entering only for the learning experience and what a great experience it was. I did win some ribbons but I learned far more than I expected. I am already planning and really looking forward to next years Hosta Show.

If you would like to learn more about hostas, look for a local hosta club in your area or check out the American Hosta Society web site (see links).

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

Railway Gardens

When I was a child, I received a toy train for Christmas. I can remember playing with that train for hours. I think the fascination about toy trains for me was how you could create this miniature landscape complete with buildings, people and animals and have a working train that moved throughout the landscape. When my children were young, they received a train set for Christmas. We built a small train track layout in the garage for them to enjoy. Over the years my fascination with miniature railways moved to miniature doll houses and now to miniature outdoor gardens. The idea of an outside miniature garden with trains sounds like something I would really like to build.

Recently, I had the chance to visit Taltree Arboretum and Gardens to see the Railway Garden. Taltree Arboretum and Gardens is located in Valparaiso, Indiana. What a treat! It was the biggest railway garden that I have ever seen. The Railway Garden has hundreds of dwarf and miniature trees and plants. The garden is made up of 850 tons of Missouri Limestone, 1486 cubic yards of soil, 6 water features and over 3,000 feet of track that runs throughout the garden. The trains runs through prairies, canyons, mountains, cities and small towns. The garden contain historical vignettes that show life in America from 1863 to 1915. This is a garden that can be enjoyed by children, gardeners and those adults who are "kids at heart". The detailing was amazing as you can see from the following pictures.

If you ever have a chance to visit Valparaiso, Indiana stop and visit Taltree Arboretum and Gardens. While you are there, you can spend the day walking in the arboretum, visiting the many gardens and have fun watching the trains in the Railway Garden. It might just inspire you to start a railway garden in your own yard.

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

Tip: If you are interested in starting a railway garden in your yard, you will be looking for G-gauge trains.

It Just Gets Better and Better!

Each year my garden just gets better and better. This year it has really started to show what years of work and dedication can do. I like to think of my garden like a child - you love it, nurture it and watch it grow and bloom into something very special. My garden is the result of recycling brick, rock, plants and any other items I can get my hands on. Many of the plants are end of the year deals, starts from friends and family, plants started from seed or plants that were being discarded by people that needed a little TLC. The gardens, which I call "Sycamore Gardens", are one to eight years old and 1 1/2 acres in size. The gardens do have some unique problems like spring floods that cover half of the gardens in water for a week and lots of wildlife that damage plants. This time of the year the gardens become full of mosquitoes due to standing flood water in the woods next to our property making gardening - not much fun!

Japanese garden with Bamboo just starting to leaf out.

Rondell Garden with new arbors that have climbing Iceberg Roses planted on them. This garden will be a white garden as the plant grow, mature and flower. This garden is planted with four "My Monet" Weigela, eight Limelight Hydrangea, four climbing Iceberg Roses and four "Little Henry" Sweetspire and four apple trees.

Hydrangea Garden with over 20 different Hydrangeas and assorted Hostas.

I feel bad that I have not been able to keep up with my garden writing as much as I would like. I garden for other people and I am very busy taking care of many different gardens right now. What time I have left is spent trying to keep up with my own garden which is full of weeds due to lots of rain this spring. Garden writing had become my activity on days when it rains. I hope everyone is having a great growing season.

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

A Visit to Bellingrath Gardens

The Conservatory and Rose Gardens

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama. If you ever have the chance to visit in the area of Mobile, you need to stop and see the gardens and the Bellingrath's home. The gardens are over 75 years old and they were the dream of Bessie Bellingrath who enjoyed gardening. Walter Bellingrath found his fortune by building the first Coca-Cola plant built exclusively to the production of Coca-Cola in the United States in 1908. The Bellingrath's purchased an old fishing lodge on the Fowl River and over the years, Bessie planted many flowers and shrubs. She loved camellias and azaleas and the soil along the river was ideal for growing them. After a trip to Europe in 1927, they decided to turn the lodge into a country estate. With the help of architect George B. Rogers the building began. As the gardens grew, people started visiting Bessie's beautiful gardens and by 1932 the gardens were opened to the public. By 1935 the estate home was completed. The house is filled with wonderful antiques and collectibles. At the age of 80, Walter Bellingrath created a non-profit foundation to continue the existence of the estate and gardens in memory of his wife. In 1956, shortly after his death, the gardens and home were open to the public to enjoy.

When you visit Bellingrath Gardens, be prepared to spend at least 3 to 4 hours to tour the house and walk the 65 acres that make up Bellingrath. You will visit the home, Chapel, The Rockery, Boehm Porcelain Gallery, Rose Garden, Conservatory, Bayou Boardwalk, Mirror Lake, the Great Lawn and all it's wonderful garden beds and water features and the Asian American Garden.