Digging in: Creating destinations

By Peter Wimberg

One million, four million, eight million. That’s the number of visitors, respectively, that the Chicago Botanical Gardens, the Lurie Garden in Chicago and the High Line in New York City receive each year. The newly created Piet Oudolf Garden on Detroit’s Bell Island is also a popular garden destination. While it doesn’t have a staff to record visitors to the garden, the island receives four million visitors each year and it’s safe to assume many of them find their way to the extensive garden.  The numbers are staggering and speak volumes to where people want to spend their time: surrounded by beauty, nature and gorgeous gardens.

Locally, streams of visitors enjoy the gardens at Krohn Conservatory, Smale Park, Ault Park and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.  Recently, two of my co-workers took trips with the sole purpose of studying and experiencing the Oudolf Garden in Detroit. I would not be too far off to say they found their time at the garden inspiring, invaluable and a bit humbling: Piet Oudolf is a masterful gardener designer.

Public gardens are popular. Is that my point? Yes, and then some. If people are so inspired to travel to parks and gardens, if tourists to New York city with its dizzying array of theaters, museums, historic landmarks, shopping and restaurants has millions enjoying the High Line each year, why are we not creating garden destinations in our own landscapes? I hazard to guess that if we asked New York city residents if they would have a garden should they live in a house, they would say, yes. Without an option for a garden of their own, they must use places like the High Line and Central Park. 

We are lucky. Even the smallest yards in Cincinnati have space to plant a garden. Some of the most impressive gardens I have seen are quite tiny, tucked in small spaces in Mount Adams.  I wonder, are we so accustomed to having yards in Cincinnati that we take them for granted? Have we missed an incredible opportunity to plant Piet Oudolf inspired nature-focused gardens?  Perhaps. But there is a shift in the way we want to experience our landscapes or perhaps said, how we want our landscape to contribute to our well-being and the well-being of nature. 

At my office we’re seeing a steady increase in the number of homeowners asking for pollinator gardens. My team’s impact on the creation of natural garden spaces is not occurring in a vacuum. If you’re tuned into gardening and planting for nature, as I assume you would be if you’re reading my column, you are aware of the home landscape design movement initiated by popular speaker and author Doug Tallamy. His homegrown National Park movement challenges homeowners to remove invasive plants from their landscape and plant native plants, trees and shrubs.  

Locally, the aforementioned Cincinnati Zoo continues to find great success with their Planting for Pollinators program which encourages homeowners to plant at least two plants: a host and nectar plant to support pollinators. The pieces are in place to change what we expect from our landscapes. There are ample gardens to visit and study, experts sharing advice, local designers ready to transform an uninspiring landscape and an increasing number of places from which to source nature-supporting plants. 

Where do you start? Consider updating or expanding an existing garden to include more native plants and plants that stand through winter. If a lawn is the main or sole design feature in your front yard, consider transitioning part of the lawn to a garden and have half of the new plants be native plants with great winter interest. Identify which elements in public garden spaces you are most drawn to and find a way to scale them to your landscape.  Substitute beneficial, esthetically pleasing plants for invasive plants. You won’t see honeysuckle, Euonymus and English ivy taking up valuable space in an Oudolf garden, why should they take up space in your garden? 

Imagine if every front yard along a street was inspired by great public gardens and planted for pollinators? Instead of traveling to New York to walk the High Line, we could stroll down our own street, surrounded by gardens that offer interest year-round, while supporting nature. Our backyards would become places of calm, reflection, and an escape from our hectic days. 

Peter Wimberg is the president of Wimberg Landscaping, a full-service landscaping firm that has been in operation for more than 44 years. Peter is a strong proponent of planting with nature. The Wimberg office and its extensive pollinator gardens are located at 1354 US Route 50 in Milford, Ohio. For more on his gardening philosophy, go to wimberglandscaping/changing-the-landscape.