All things landscape coming up at workshop
Program will be held Oct. 22 at Windy Knoll Golf Course.
This was a great year for the cultivar trials as we had more than 250 entries providing lots of color and interest. I can’t wait to share the really cool series of begonias that came out this year.
Are you one of those unfortunate gardeners who must deal with some kind of wildlife messing up the garden? I am.
We recently had three groundhogs move into our yard and burrow along the foundation. They were destroying the area around the house. Fortunately, they are gone.
After reading more about groundhogs to know how to go to battle, we learned that if you eliminate one and there are others around, they will move into the neighborhood, in the same house.
The first one built quite a nice condo underground, but once he was gone, a second moved in, and then once he was gone, a third.
Learning about wildlife and their habitat and habits goes a long way in managing nuisance critters. Our upcoming All Things Landscape Workshop on Oct. 22 has a session on Identifying and Repelling Invasive Wildlife with Michael Enright.
Mike Enright, owner of Enright Wildlife and Habitat Solutions, LLC, will be presenting and knows what he is talking about. We hired him to eliminate groundhogs in Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum.
In addition, his method of keeping deer out of the garden is remarkable and works. We haven’t had a problem since he installed it.
In addition to Enright, City of Springfield urban forester James Will will talk about urban trees.
Learn about the best trees to plant for different purposes, selecting the right tree for the space, soil conditions and other specifics about trees for your landscape.
Will and his crew plant and maintain a small tree nursery for Springfield, saving considerable money when it comes to planting our urban forest.
This fall, he will be planting almost 60 trees in SPGA, improving the tree diversity that was once on the former golf course.
Next, Ohio State University Extension bee lab Program Specialist Denise Ellsworth is going to share the best native plants to use in the landscape to attract bees, birds and butterflies.
Ellsworth is an expert on pollinators and has almost 30 years of experience in the Extension. She has been teaching about pollinators and is passionate in helping people succeed.
We are working with Ellsworth at SPGA to develop a pollinator display garden. We have two different gardens, one that is filled with native species and the other is filled with cultivars of the native species.
The goal is to observe the pollinators that visit these plants. Do they like cultivars or the species better? Or do they care?
Finally, I will be talking about those top-performing yet low-maintenance annuals for landscapes. The feature plants are those that have done the best in our cultivar trials both at Chadwick Arboretum and SPGA.
This was a great year for the cultivar trials as we had more than 250 entries providing lots of color and interest. I can’t wait to share the really cool series of begonias that came out this year.
In addition, some of the new lantana and sunflower varieties stole the show.
The cost of the entire day is only $40 and includes donuts and coffee/tea for breakfast and lunch.
Again, the program is on Oct. 22 and is from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Windy Knoll Golf Course, Springfield.
You must register in advance, and you can pay online with a credit card or you can print the form and mail it in. For more details and to register, go to go.osu.edu/allthingslandscape