Elizabeth and I have been fortunate to have traveled quite a bit this year. As Sam settles into the business, it’s been nice to be able to step away to gain new ideas and knowledge that I can bring back to our clients. Below are some highlights of our summer excursions:

Chicago Urban Landscaping

We were excited to join the Fall Creek Garden Club on a bus trip to Chicago to learn more about urban gardens and natural prairie species. We began with a Millennium Park tour. We saw many of the things most of you are probably familiar with, but we also had an extensive tour of their urban garden. It was a fine example of how to bring nature into a city, with different areas such as a prairie garden and a shade garden. The highlight of the tour though was a visit to the gardens attached to a historic Chicago-area home. Bill Curtis, who you may know as a veteran newscaster and current announcer on NPR’s show “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” has what he calls an “Urban Dig”. He purchased an old estate and has been lovingly restoring it over time, including a variety of gardens. Part of the project is to further research on developing perennial crop varieties that would grow back each year rather than replanting. The goal is to reduce the amount of water and pesticides used in agriculture. It was a wonderful place to visit. We learned a great deal about native Prairie plants and even had a tour of the original 1920s house on the estate.

Historic Gardens in Lexington, KY

The Conifer Society’s trip to Lexington was hosted by a University of Kentucky professor who oversees their research farms. We toured their urban gardens, where local people purchase discounted fruits and vegetables, as well as garden for themselves. One of the highlights of the trip featured a former student of the professor. While at UK, he worked as a bartender and DJ. One of his events was at a historic home that he decided someday he would like to buy. After graduation, he went to NYC and made a name for himself designing rooftop gardens. He retired back in Lexington and was able to buy that historic home! Unfortunately, it was grossly overgrown, so he has worked to painstakingly restore it to its past beauty. One special find was an 8ft in diameter Ginko tree that was planted from one of the early stocks that came to the US in the early 1800s. While Ginko have been shown through fossil records to be native to the area, they went extinct. The species was rediscovered in China and brought all over the world. It was a fascinating property. Needless to say, we also visited a cool nursery and bought some plants.

Which Led Us to Cincinnati, OH

At the Lexington event, we met a guy from Cincinnati who propagates conifers on his property. We were invited to visit so we took him up on it. He also arranged for us to visit other Cincy gardens as well. It’s always fun to see other people’s gardens and how they manage their climate, topography and plants.

We ended up purchasing some plants from our host, all of which I am excited to test in our garden. One in particular has got me jazzed – an Oregon Hollygrape. It’s an interesting plant in that it looks like Holly but is not, and blooms a yellow flower that creates berries that look like grapes. It has nice fall color, but has marginal hardiness so I look forward to seeing how it fares here in Indiana. We also purchased a Dwarf Hemlock for our dwarf hemlock collection. Yes, we have a collection, just one of many on our property.

2019 was a year of visiting and continuing education, gaining new ideas and inspiration for our clients. Our company motto is “Bring Out the Natural Beauty of Your Backyard”, which means designing for YOUR yard, not everyone else’s. By exploring other gardens, nurseries and plant species, we can bring back fresh ideas. One caveat – implementing those new ideas takes time, since we do not like to use our clients as guinea pigs. We test out new plants and landscaping materials in our own gardens first! If we like what we have seen, we then either work with local nurseries to carry these elements or bring them in ourselves. So, while its true Elizabeth and I enjoy getting away together, it’s all for a good cause – our customers.

Do you know of a garden we should visit? Leave us a comment and we’ll check it out. Thanks!