How to Tackle Your Inheritance

Few people get the luxury of obtaining a piece of land "clean" of any existing planting or building scheme. Most businesses or home owners purchase property on which the previous owner has created some sort of planting scheme. Even those purchasing new homes must work with what the builder chooses to plant. There may be domineering trees or shrubs or veracious perennials or rampaging groundcovers with which to contend. There may be a horrific color scheme among the plants that clashes with the house. On the other hand, the plantings may be so new and inadequate that we wonder why the contractor bothered, and perhaps their plant choices are not exactly. . .what one would have selected if we had control of the design from the beginning.

I inherited an existing garden when I became the manager of Hershey Children’s Garden. The Garden was in its sixth season of existence and was handed down to me from a series of talented managers before me. They each shaped the Garden in wonderful ways during their tenure and I frankly felt daunted at keeping pace.

How could I improve upon such wonderful work? How was I supposed to approach my work with this garden with all its different facets from programming and signage to planting schemes and structural maintenance? Over the next series of posts I share the emerging approach to my work as I learned. When I reflect back on my journey thus far, I followed a similar path to the one my father took in renovating our yard during my college days.

Bringing the Outside In

Many cultural celebrations center around natural cycles or events. Thanksgiving is no exception. Parents need to get their kids outside, and parents need to bring the outside indoors.

There are a number of ways to bring the outdoors in over the coming winter months. Here are a number of ideas: 

1.  Walk through the yard, neighborhood or nearby park, collecting whatever materials you find on the ground (you could do a litter hunt one day and a nature hunt another). Take the materials home and make fantastic creatures or Thanksgiving decorations. I like to ask kids to draw their creature first and then make with the materials what they just drew.

2.  You can find lots of other craft ideas on the internet.  

3.  Purchase different flowering spring bulbs and force them to bloom early, like, say, February.

4.  Purchase houseplants that can spend the summer outside in Ohio. When you return them to the indoor environment each fall they serve as a reminder of green summer days.

Posted by Josh Steffen

Other Garden Connections

Yes, Hershey Children’s Garden is closed for the season. This is true, but it does not mean the opportunities for family fun are over. Here are some things you can do while you are here, and some upcoming opportunities:

• Give your child a journal and encourage them to write or draw pictures of what they saw, heard, smelled or touched
• See if you can find fungus, rocks, leaves and branches of different colors, shapes and sizes; look at them with a magnifying glass
• Collect different types of fallen leaves and draw them in a journal or press them flat in a large book, the leaves can be arranged into different animals on seasonally appropriate greeting cards
• Attend our last Little Buds class for the season
• Come to one of our Nature Tales Story Time sessions
• Attend our America Recycles Day

There are endless opportunities to create lasting memories with your child no matter the season. Let us help you facilitate those moments.

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#10 in a series of 10)
Native Bird Food: Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the final plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.  

Fall in Hershey Children’s Garden is full of different colored leaves. Fall is also time for flowers that many people overlook. I am speaking, of course, of the perennial grass flowers or flower inflorescence.
There are many different perennial grasses in the children’s garden. Little Bluestem, one particular favorite, originates from the eastern tall grass prairies of North America.

Little bluestem is a native bunch grass with summer blue-green leaves and pretty inflorescence. The leaves change to an attractive multi-colored pattern as the temperature cools. Right now, it is a great plant to examine closely with your children. You can note the purples and reds. See how many different colors you can see.

I highly recommend Little bluestem for children’s gardens. The two to four feet in height makes a great scale for children. They can walk in a prairie of Little Bluestem and not feel overwhelmed amongst extremely tall grass. It is tolerant of a wide range of soil and moisture conditions as well. Also, it has many seasons of interest capped with great fall color.
 

Come see this little seasonal wonder on your next visit. Also, check out our self-guided tour of the children’s garden prairie on our activity cart. It is full of all kinds of information and things to do in the prairie.
 

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#9 in a series of 10)

Edible/Fruit: Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the ninth plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

One memorable late summer and early Autumn sensation is the delightful burst of sweetness one experiences with every raspberry freshly picked from Hershey Children’s Garden. Every September, visitors of every age are treated to an abundant crop of red delicious aggregrate fruits. Staff have grown Rubus ’Latham,’ R. ‘Heritage,’ and R. ‘Illini Hardy.’ It is a fun discovery to come upon such an inviting treat.

Raspberries are fairly easy to grow in your back yard, and planting them give kids something to look forward to all summer long. There is nothing like fresh raspberries on one’s cereal to cheer little faces bound for school. I like to interact with kids who want to pick the fruit early about what ripe means and teach them proper harvest time. Raspberries are best harvested when they turn the richest red or gold. If they do not come easily off the plant then little fingers are best taught to wait.

Raspberries are best planted in moisture-retentive (yet well-drained) soil with lots of organic matter. An addition of compost in late spring or balanced organic fertilizer works well for me. Summer-fruiting varieties should be cut to ground level after fruiting. For summer varieties, only cut down the canes that produced fruit that year. Unfruited canes I then cut in half in spring. Fall-fruiting varieties should be completely cut back in late winter and then cut to six inches above any training wire.

Do these simple tasks and this low maintenance fruit will give more than it takes. Enjoy your cereal.

Fall Little Buds Unfolds Next Week

Kids this fall can go on a little trip, a trip with many twists and turns . This trip starts in darkness and ends in darkness, from soil to stomach! Why, it’s journey of their lunch! The Garden will offer a new program, "The Journey of Your Lunch," a new series of "Little Buds" classes about how and where their food originates.  

"Little Buds" is a popular program series offering families with children between the ages of 3 and 5 the opportunity to engage the Garden on many different topics such as habitats, insects and plant parts and cycles. Children learn developmentally important concepts through art, dance, stories and hands-on exploration. Come explore the farm in September, how food is processed in October, and the kitchen in November.

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#8 in a series of 10)

Aquatic Greatness: Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the eighth plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

Lotus is one of the most striking plants in Hershey Children’s Garden and one of my favorites. This Asian beauty displays wide, circular shaped leaves whose amazing "Teflon" effect repels water. Try splashing or placing some water droplets on the leaves and watch the liquid dance around as if it where on a hot skillet. Speaking of skillets, the lotus tuber is used in Asian cooking and holds much symbolism for the Chinese.

Lotus is a plant to watch develop over multiple visits throughout the spring and summer with your child. The first leaves lay flat on the water like lily pads in May. The second set of leaves shoot out of the water like umbrellas turned inside out in a wind storm. The flowers and seed heads are also great fun. The flowers form blooms and the resulting seed stalks look like shower heads with rattling seeds. 

See now why it is a top ten favorite plant?

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#7 in a series of 10)

Bird Plant: Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the seventh plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

Cardinal flower is one of the many stunning blooms visitors may find in Hershey Children’s Garden right now. Redder than fire engines, hummingbirds love the flowers of this Midwestern native. It naturally grows in wetland environments, sporting a spike of brilliant blooms from mid- to late-summer. Visitors will find this plant growing along the water fall section of the pond, stretching toward the sky alongside other riverbank lovers golden Alexander and swamp milkweed. This  bloom offers a great opportunity to speak to children about how observing flower shapes (i.e. tubular), colors (i.e. red), and sizes (i.e. medium) serve as good indicators of a species’ pollinator. Wander outside and see if you and your little one can guess who or what visits your flowers.

Do you have a vegetable garden? Is this your first year with one? The National Gardening Association expects a 19% increase in the number of edible gardens installed in the US this year. The economy is one of the driving forces behind this uptick. When the going gets tough, the tough get gardening! I personally grew up with a huge vegetable garden full of peppers, tomatoes, rhubarb (ew), and lots of weeds. My job was to remove said weeds. I think this task scarred me – thanks Dad  – because of the HUGE spiders I always encountered. I was little and I think the spiders were car-sized. I still completely lose it when I see one. But let’s move on; I’ve digressed and I’m freaking myself out. Why all the vegetable gardens? Why are we composting, shopping at the ever-increasing number of farmer’s markets, and starting plants from seed – from seed! Why does it matter? Does it even matter? If you ask Will Allen – founder and CEO of Growing Power in Milwaukee – it does matter, and it’s a matter of life and death. He became alarmed at the increasing rates of obesity and diabetes, particularly in low-income families with limited or no access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The closest place to shop for these families may be a convenience store a mile away with over-salted, over-sugared, over-processed “food." Growing Power was founded to bring fresh greens, fruits, and veggies to inner-city dwellers and now provides them to over 10,000 people a year. 

Will Allen, who was just featured in a major article in the New York Times Magazine last Sunday, is coming to Cleveland. He is the keynote speaker at the American Horticultural Society’s National Children & Youth Garden Symposium, hosted by Cleveland Botanical Garden. I am SO excited to meet him; I’m starting to lose sleep. We are taking him to several of our Learning Gardens to see our urban farms, meet Green Corps staff, and most importantly, meet some of the students we employ to work these acres. I’m not sure our teens realize who it is they are meeting in just 2 weeks, or the impact he has had in Milwaukee and many other cities. But I think Mr. Allen will be impressed with what he sees happening at our Learning Gardens. Yes, we have some weeds – I’m not going to pull them, Dad –however, I think he will enjoy experiencing the “fruits” of their labors this summer.

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#6 in a series of 10)

Giant Plants: Giant Sunflowers (Helianthus helianthemum)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the sixth plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.