Gardens for all Seasons
After retirement, Vera Sifford found great pleasure in developing her gardens on Spayth Street. In the six years since she retired from teaching, her spring and summertime hobby is planning islands and borders of beauty. Each area of her three-fourths acre lot has special and unusual combinations of plants.
She especially likes plants with contrasting leaves that add color and interest all season long, even when the plants have finished blooming. The white edges of the leaves of a variegated hydrangea brighten a corner; as do the white and green spotted leaves of lungwort (Pulmonaria), which also is covered with pink and blue flowers in early spring. The chartreuse leaves of sweet potato vine, and coleus, the dark purple of ajuga, basil, and Palace Purple coral bells (Heuchera), the tricolored foliage of Houtilia, and the purple of a flowering plum all provide contrast in all seasons. The most unusual foliage plant in her garden is Persian shield, with lavender leaves bordered in green.
Vera is developing a new shady area devoted to Hostas and their many forms. She grows variegated hostas, leaves that are green with white margins, or white with green margins, others have crinkled large heart shaped leaves with a blue cast. Some are chartreuse. Some are small and others occupy a square yard. Her hostas have lavender or white flowers, but the main attraction is their leaves and their ability to make a green fairyland of shady places.
Now, when many gardens surrender to the heat, pink obedience plant, Star Gazer lilies, white and blue bell flowers (Companula), pink and white phlox, pink and red bee balm (Monarda), yarrow (Achillea) and gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia) are blooming. Russian sage adds an airy note to the back of the border. The Butterfly Bush, (Buddleia) is alight with butterflies but also Japanese beetles like it. Annuals like ageratum, moss rose, wishbone, (Torenia) a plant with a white tube-like corolla edged in pink, also provide color. Later, many different kinds of mums will bloom.
Some plants in Vera's garden start to bloom as soon as the snow melts. The Christmas Rose (Hellebore) flowers in February and its flowers and leaves last for several months. Later, daffodils start to bloom. She has twenty-five different kinds. She especially likes them because moles and other critters leave them alone. She finds Arabis, a low growing perennial, helpful to plant in front of the spring bulbs to hide their foliage as it dies. Tulips have their season in April and May.
In June many kinds and colors of columbines grace the beds with their airy blooms. Several kinds of roses are scattered among the delphiniums and foliage plants. Lavender and several kinds of perennial geraniums are in bloom then.
Because she likes to try many different kinds of plants, Vera loves to find new sources for plants. She has found many plants right here in Tiffin at Molyets, the Garden Store, and Wagner's Green house. She especially likes the fact that Molyets will order an unusual plant for her. She makes pilgrimages to plant nurseries in the surrounding area. Wade and Gatten in Belleville have many kinds of hostas and lilies. Courso's Plant Store in Sandusky, Shedell Gardens in Elmore, and Whirlwind Gardens in Chatfield are other favorites. She also orders plants from White Flower Farms and Shady Oaks, which specializes in plants for shade.
Vera is one of the graduates of the Master Gardener's school sponsored by the Extension Service. In addition to her own gardens, she has helped plant the gardens at the Lutheran Church and the Allen Eiry Senior Center. She has a lot of helpful advice for gardeners who are just starting to expand their gardens or have problems with their plants. For Japanese beetles, for instance, she just holds a can of soapy water beneath them and flicks them off into that. She believes that the bags, which attract the beetles and catch them, help bring more beetles to the garden and they eat plenty of leaves on their way to the trap. In the spring especially, she is busy weeding and moving plants to a new, hopefully happier location. She advises gardeners not to give up on clematis which seem to be dying early or which refuse to bloom. She has waited three to five years for some of hers to bloom.
She likes to use a time release fertilizer, Osmocoate, with 14-14-14 proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium when she sets out new plants. She also works water-absorbing crystals like Florasource into the soil. These can be obtained at garden stores or catalogues. She says, after a good watering, and these aids, new plants don't need care for some time.
The Master Gardeners have a booth at the fair and Vera will be there to answer questions on Saturday. Also the Master Gardeners are selling The Gardening Book for Ohio by Denny McKeown for 20 dollars. They are available at the Extension Office.
After Vera is finished with her gardening tasks in the fall, she takes out her palette and paints at the Allen Eiry Center. She has painted flowers, birds, landscapes, and she has also done watercolors. She feels in one sense of the word, she is painting a picture in her garden, too, so she creates beauty in all seasons of the year.
– Mary