Comments on Toledo Botanical Garden, by Lynn Overholser

The Toledo Botanical Garden was the last stop on our tour of adventure in the horticulture industries. Assembled in a meeting room, we listened to the head of the board members speak to us about the gardens and their evolution to this point in time. She also was telling about the garden's lack of a head gardener. The Toledo Botanical Garden is funded by memberships, special fundraisers, and grants. The land was originally donated by George P. Crosby, who gave 20 acres to the garden. Presently the Toledo Botanical Garden has 60 acres of land on which to garden and educate.

The Gardens are a place of learning for the community. The garden itself has all plants labeled, for people to learn. There are workshops, classes, and lectures for the public to attend for further education. Concerts are held at the garden every week in the summer. Once during the year there is an outdoor art festival, which is one of the finest in Ohio. Many non-profit organizations contribute to the garden. They provide workshops for the public to attend, as well as offering shops and galleries for visitors to the garden to browse.

There are five art galleries on the garden's grounds. All of the galleries have works from local artists within, and most have a garden theme. There is also a café and gift shop for visitors to enjoy. The garden is taken care of with a small staff and one head gardener. The garden also relies on volunteers to garden and run the gift shop and café. The staff and volunteers each have their own areas to look after, so there is no confusion of work to be done. The contributions of the volunteers help to make the gardens the success they are, and an enjoyable visit. The Toledo Botanical Garden is a series of gardens within a garden. When entering the gardens, the first garden is the shade garden. The shade garden has a collection of deciduous trees, azaleas, ferns, hostas, and many other plants suitable for the Ohio shade. Also within the shade garden is a man-made stream and pond, which boasts a few aquatic plants. The next garden the path leads to is the herb garden. Within the herb garden are many plant varieties that grow well in Ohio's winters. The herb garden also contains a statue of a woman feeding birds, just one example of the artwork the garden holds. The paths through the garden will take one through an allee of sycamores, to a large man-made pond in full sun. The pond has not been developed with plants, due to the great amount of Canada Geese that reside in garden. The geese destroy the plant material at the edges of the pond and cost the garden too much to replace the plants. When the next garden is being perused, one can find many rooms to the area. The perennial garden is home to the colour garden, the collection gardens, the cottage garden, an English border, a dry garden, and a green garden. All of these gardens are small and lead into one another as new outdoor rooms. On the return to the entrance and parking lot, visitors pass by the pioneer garden, part of the pioneer homestead. The pioneer garden exhibits plant material that was grown during the late 19th century. The next area come upon is the compost area, which shows visitors different methods of home composting, as well as providing a small bit of composting area for garden waste. The last garden for a visitor to enjoy before leaving the garden is the rose garden. The rose garden offers visitors a look at over 250 cultivars of roses.

The Toledo Botanical Garden has room for growth, and it is apparent when walking the grounds. There were large spans of land that were covered with lawn. The funds and volunteers are not in existence for the land to be developed and cared for properly. The garden also is in need of a head gardener, for the previous head gardener recently left the position. The gardens are adequate to the funds available, or for the average layperson. To compare this botanical garden to others in Ohio, Toledo Botanical Garden is doing well. One must remember that it is a relatively new garden in terms of plant establishment and public knowledge of the garden. If the class were to go back to the area, it would be good to visit another botanical garden along with the Toledo Botanical Garden. It would be a learning experience to be able to compare the two gardens in the way they are kept, the plant material used, the educational experience each has to offer, the age of the gardens, and the funding of the gardens. There is not much of an opportunity to evaluate public gardens, funded with help through the government.