Hickory Farms Newsletter – June 2016

Are you looking for a nice day trip this summer? Have you considered visiting a botanical garden?

My wife and I always look for public gardens when we travel. They are usually very nice, relaxing places to visit and excellent sources for information on what grows well in the area. Some have restaurants, educational exhibits and certainly beautiful spaces to enjoy. I always tell people to just look around the neighborhood to see what grows well. A visit to a public garden will show you many plants you might not have considered. This winter we visited the Florida Botanical Garden in Largo, FL. In this case it’s just fun to see the plant possibilities in a tropical climate. I’d highly recommend a visit to this garden if you are in Florida. It’s well maintained, admission is free and there’s a complete “village” of reconstructed old southern buildings such as homes, stores, church, school, train station etc.

Here are some day trips for you in this area:

Inniswood Gardens
940 S Hempstead Rd, Westerville, OH
A great place to see shade perennials

Franklin Park Conservatory
1777 E Broad St, Columbus, OH
Indoors, and a great winter destination

Cox Arboretum
6733 N Springboro Pike, Dayton, OH
Wonderful dwarf conifer display

Dawes Arboretum
7770 Jacksontown Rd, Heath, OH
New Japanese garden, go to Granville for lunch!

Kingwood Center
50 Trimble Rd, Mansfield, OH
Large old manor with home tour

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens
714 N Portage Path, Akron, OH
Ditto as kingwood

Hidden Lake Gardens
6214 Monroe Rd, Tipton, MI
Has a wonderful display of mature dwarf conifers and succulents in conservatory

Toledo Botanical Garden
5403 Elmer Dr, Toledo, OH
I’ve never been here! But it’s on the wishlist

Toledo Zoo
2 Hippo Way, Toledo, OH
Wonderful small zoo with old architecture and intense plantings

Cincinnati Zoo
3400 Vine St, Cincinnati, OH
Many zoos promote themselves these days as zoological and botanical gardens

Spring Grove Cemetery
4521 Spring Grove Ave, Cincinnati, OH
Yes, this old cemetery has a wonderful collection of trees and shrubs

If you’ve got some favorite gardens to add please let me know.

Mike Epp
Hickory Lane Farms Nursery and Landscape LLC
937-358-2295