Richards' Gardens and Landscape Center

We had class time on Tuesday night at Richards' Gardens and Landscape center in New Washington, Ohio.

They gave us a custom tour after their regular hours, leading us through the "island" gardens, where they display mature plants so that customers can get an idea of what their plants will look like after they have grown. We went through the butterfly house - a screened-in area with plants loved by butterflies including butterfly bush and butterfly weed, among others. They fed the fish as we passed across the bridge - there were some huge catfish in that pond! We went through the propagation houses, into the areas where they have container trees and shrubs being grown out, and finally through the retail areas, including the shrubs and also the annuals and perennials in the greenhouse.

They explained that many nursery-grown plants are patented and they have to purchase a license to propagate them. Many nurseries no longer do their own propagation, just purchasing plants and growing them on for resale.

What a fantastic tour! They gave us a lot of information concerning their annual cycle of propagation and what it takes to move all the plants around through the various stages of growth, showed us their potting medium (a soil-less mix containing compost, peat, and rice hulls), explained some of the details about their watering to conserve water on the property, and gave a lot of recommendations about various plants that do well in this part of the country, and tips for getting blooms off some nursery-grown plants the second year (hint: buy a variety that blooms on new wood. )