Duke Garden
I attended the Tri-State Green Industry Expo in February. While I enjoyed the seminars, the best thing I got out of the experience was meeting John Duke. I’ll confess, I’d come across his name before in connection with the Cincinnati gardening scene. When I happened to sit next to him during one of the classes, I was sure to not let him go. I followed him to lunch and was treated to photos of his charming garden. Before we parted, I got his email address and gave him a card with my blog’s address. We kept in touch over the winter and spring. He read my blog and attended a free preview of my spring show, Vanities. At my open garden, he brought me an invitation to his own event and I finally got to see the pictured garden in person.
His garden is 11 years old, and it just the way I hope mine looks in another eight: with only six minutes of lawn remaining. Yes, it takes his wife, Amy, just six minutes to cut the grass. The rest of the yard is glorious garden, divided into multiple areas: daylily display beds, a children’s garden, a railroad garden, fairy gardens, a patio (complete with firepit), a utility area, and lots of shade (due to all of his lovely, mature trees and shrubs). I found the shade garden beneath his Norway Spruce to be most inspiring, because I’m fighting to plant beneath my four mature specimens. However, if I could transplant a piece of his yard to mine, I’d take the greenhouse. It’s a perfect size for a city garden and made by John himself.
I took over 40 photos of the Duke garden. I tried to keep them in the order I walked the garden. You can view the complete set here:
His garden is 11 years old, and it just the way I hope mine looks in another eight: with only six minutes of lawn remaining. Yes, it takes his wife, Amy, just six minutes to cut the grass. The rest of the yard is glorious garden, divided into multiple areas: daylily display beds, a children’s garden, a railroad garden, fairy gardens, a patio (complete with firepit), a utility area, and lots of shade (due to all of his lovely, mature trees and shrubs). I found the shade garden beneath his Norway Spruce to be most inspiring, because I’m fighting to plant beneath my four mature specimens. However, if I could transplant a piece of his yard to mine, I’d take the greenhouse. It’s a perfect size for a city garden and made by John himself.
I took over 40 photos of the Duke garden. I tried to keep them in the order I walked the garden. You can view the complete set here:
Labels: open garden
posted by Kasmira at 3.7.07
6 Comments:
That's a big, very full garden! I'm sure you were inspired. Did I see annuals? ; )
Love the pot dog, not to mention all the other vignettes. Wow, that's a full-time garden!
Thoroughly enjoyed that garden tour. Thanks for sharing with us!
The pix are so lush that Judith's (my spouse and Cinti area expat) allergies kicked in after the fourth photo!
Very beautiful, honestly. I can relate to what you do, at least somewhat haha. I love all things that grow so that's why I try as hard I can to help revive this planet in the most efficient way that I can possible. You never know when one day you'll wake up and really smell the smog from your kitchen window or living room. Family to me is really most important, and with people like us trying to at least help the planet even just a bit, will most definitely help one like myself sleep better at night knowing that my family's next day waking up feels a bit safer :)
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