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Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A Here at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.

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It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella me,

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Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,

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Happy Birthday America two hundred and fifty years. Part two

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of our series on gardens. We'd love to see you visit,

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and today we'll cover a number of botanical gardens that

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we recommend you visit. Of course, these gardens are tied

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to history and the rich history of our country, but

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it's really not the history here that we're talking about.

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Our goal is to present them as they are today

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and to inspire you to visit them. Just a rich

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agricultural and horticultural history to our country. Stacy a comment

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from one of our viewers that I thought was great

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about land grant universities in the United States. I have

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often visited the gardens at Michigan State University, a land

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grant university. It also makes me think of I think

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it's called the J. C. Ralston Gardens at North Carolina

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State and North Carolina State has been instrumental in the

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development of the horticulture industry here in the United.

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Speaker 2: States, absolutely, and J. C. Ralston was too. He unfortunately

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passed away far too young. But his dream was to

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have a state arboretum for North Carolina and that is

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what became the J. C. Ralston Arboretum. And it is

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a wonderful place that you should absolutely visit. And you know,

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speaking of visits, we hope that you are able to

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go to all of these gardens in person and experience

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them for yourself and learn about the history. But I

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do have to say, in researching all of this, there's

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a lot of great web sites. So if you cannot

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wait until you can visit them, or you're just sitting

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around and want a dream big, do visit their websites.

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There are wonderful stories, the history maps, all of that

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good stuff. So it's the second best thing to visiting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really absolutely, and that's true. The websites are fantastic. Now,

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of course, I guess to start out, you know, again,

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you talk about history, you talk about the women's movement

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and suffrage and voting rights, and boy, that's kind of

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tied into that was the mid eighteen hundreds. It's kind

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of tied into the Founder's Memorial Garden. I have never

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been there. But i'd like to go.

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Speaker 2: Right, I have never been there either. This is in Athens, Georgia,

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on the campus of the University of Georgia. And you know,

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the gardens that we're picking for this show, right, like,

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the comments are already coming in, and we're going to

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wait until the whole series is over and we will

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do something to address all of the gardens that we

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miss our being outcried in the comments. We'll address that

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in a future episode. But you know, the one of

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the ways that we're trying to pick these gardens is

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because of their significance. So it's not always that it's

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like the best or most beautiful or special or unique garden.

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So that's how a garden like the Founder's Memorial Garden

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in Athens, Georgia gets on the list. The Founder's Memorial

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Garden commemorates the founding of the first Ladies Garden Club

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in America in eighteen ninety one.

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Speaker 1: That is so interesting. What year was that?

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Speaker 2: Eighteen ninety one? Wow, So that was the year that

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the first Lady's Garden Club was founded. And you know,

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to us now, it's kind of interesting because I think

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most people think tend to think no offense rick of

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gardening is a woman's pastime, which is garbage. It's not

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you do not need to be a specific gender to garden.

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Speaker 1: I'm not even touching that one.

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Speaker 2: But really, you know, and if you couldn't tell, you know,

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the gardens that we've talked about is we kind of

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traveled through the thirteen original colonies and all of that.

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Of course we're in Georgia, so that's still one of

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the thirteen original colonies. But you know, gardening was largely

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a man's pastime. It was not something that women engaged in,

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whether it was because they were dressed in hoopskirts and

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petticoats and all of these other things that made it

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impossible to actually bend over much less work in the

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garden and pull weeds and so forth. So this is

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really instrumental in the fact that now it was okay

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for women to garden. It was accepted women could get

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together in their own societies and talk about gardening and

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celebrate gardening and learn about plants. And you know, now

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we take the whole concept of garden societies kind of

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for granted. They're almost like a quaint concept that don't

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you know, hardly exist anymore. But this was massive that

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there was the first garden club for women in Athens,

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Georgia in eighteen ninety one. So this is a pretty

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small garden if you happen to be in Athens, Georgia,

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you might even miss it if you didn't know about it.

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But this garden was actually chartered in nineteen thirty six

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specifically to commemorate the founding of the first women's garden.

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It wasn't completed until ten years in nineteen forty six.

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So it's kind of a formal garden with a clipped

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boxwood parterre, and a parterre is basically, I guess what

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most people would consider like a k not garden, very formal,

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clipped boxwood hedges, sometimes with plants inside them, So it

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has this kind of formality. But it also functions as

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a living laboratory for the University of Georgia College of

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Environment and Design, so they're doing research on trees. It's

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about a five acre site. You can rent it for

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weddings and events and all of those types of things.

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But again this one is included not because this is

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the most stunning guard that you're ever going to see,

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but that role in history and the fact that even

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in nineteen thirty six, you know, some forty years after

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the first Lady's Garden Club was founded, they felt that

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that was significant enough to commemorate with its own garden.

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Speaker 1: Interesting. Well, I guess my only editorial comment would be

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I used to operate a guard center, and I understand

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that probably nine out of ten decisions made at a

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garden center are made by a woman, not a man.

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It's just the way it is, and we love them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, I think that that that's my

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only kind. I'm grateful that gardening has become much more

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democratized because of the Internet.

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Speaker 1: Yes exactly.

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Speaker 2: You know, there are at least as many male gardening

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influences as there are female gardening influencers. But again, as

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we're talking about history, it's pretty wild to think that

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there was a time where it's unbelievab, where you know,

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pearls would have been clutched if a woman so much

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is dreamed of planting something.

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Speaker 1: So goodness, Well, let's move on here, and let's let's

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go to southern Florida.

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Speaker 2: Oh, we're actually going to take a detour first. We're

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going to well we're still in Florida. But I found

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out about a garden just to this morning. Well, I

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knew about the garden before, but once I started reading

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the story of this garden, I said, oh, this has

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this is going to make the cut. It's in your

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digital notes, it's in your paper notes here, okay. But

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when I read this, and then I read the story

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of the person who founded this garden, I said, this

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is exactly the type of story that we want to

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tell on the Gardening Simplified Show for part two. So

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it is Bach Tower Gardens and Lake Wales, Florida. Have

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you been there? I have been there, Okay, So it's

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kind of I looked on the map southwest of Orlando.

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It is still deep within theme Park Florida, not far

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from Legoland. So if you are in Florida visiting all

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the theme parks, you may not have time because you're

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running around theme park to theme park. But this is

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absolutely a garden worth your visit because the founder of it,

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Edward Bach. It's a true American dream story, So get

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ready for this. He comes to Brooklyn at the age

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of six as an immigrant from the Netherlands. He's educated

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in New York City public schools. In Brooklyn, he works

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as a quote office boy for Western Union Telegraph in

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eighteen seventy six. And you know, this is a the

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classic American story. He's attending night school to further his education.

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So here's this guy trying to make a living, you know,

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older teenager, young twenties, out of school, working at telegraph office,

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going to night school. He eventually starts to work his

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way up in publishing and advertising sales for magazines. All right,

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he now speaking of women and how gardening has changed.

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This is going to say, this is almost absurd for

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me to say, but it's still part of history. He

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becomes the first editor of the Ladies Home Journal in

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eighteen eighty nine.

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Speaker 1: An immigrants from the Netherlands.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so he ends up so the Lady's Home Journal

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was there. He becomes the editor of the Ladies Home

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Journal in eighteen eighty nine, and under Edward box leadership,

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the Ladies Home Journal becomes the first magazine in the

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world to reach one million subscribers. Which that's crazy to

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think of that happening, you know, way back in the

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early nineteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds, because things did not

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happen as quickly as they do now with the Internet.

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Under his direction at the Ladies Home Journal. He coins

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the term living room. He renames the concept of Victorian

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parlors to living rooms, so they used to be called parlors.

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By him, they become living rooms and now that, of

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course is common parlance for us and in he was

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a big proponent of the early American arts and crafts movement,

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and he publishes Frank Lloyd writes home plans in the

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Ladies Home Journal, making him and his home style as

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popular as they became. Amazing, isn't that incredible. He was

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a very forward thinking person. He fought for women's rights,

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the right to vote, and he also helped to ensure

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that Niagara Falls was preserved from development. So that's the

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fun thing about these is you start reading these histories

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and there's all these like crazy points connecting everything. So

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he moves to Florida and he has a vision to

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found a garden and this is a quote directly from

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the bach Tower Gardens website, as a gift for visitation

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by the American people in gratitude for the opportunity they

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had given him. So he wants to give this garden

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to the American people to enjoy. He employs Frederic loh

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Olmsted Junior. So we talked about Frederick law Olmsted a

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lot in the last episode. We're gonna still be talking

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about him because we've got some big Frederick law Olmsted

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Gardens coming up, and he specifically designs it with Frederick

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lah Olmsted Junior, as a sanctuary for birds and native wildlife.

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And Olmsted Junior specifically chooses plants and cites them to

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quote provide a hearty supply of food and shelter for

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migrating birds and other wildlife. Now to this day, the

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threatened gopher tortoise and eastern indigo snake make their homes

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at Bach Tower Gardens. And there is a picture, and

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this is sort of why the thing that I saw

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this morning that made me really want to look into

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his story. There was a picture of Edward Bach standing

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next to a sign that says, quote, a sanctuary is

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a place where the rights of all living things are respected.

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And that just kind of really summarizes his, you know,

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view on life and the viewpoint that he had building

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bock Tower Gardens. Now, I think what most people know

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Bock Tower Gardens for is his dream of building a carolon.

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Now I don't know a lot about carolons. They are.

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I am vastly underestimating them to call them a bell tower,

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because they are so much more than a bell tower.

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I learned a lot about carolons today. Fascinating topic. He

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commissioned a carolan at the center. He is buried at

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the base of the carolon at bock Tower Gardens and

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it's one of only one hundred and eighty five caralons

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in the US.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: They have a great page on their website about carolons.

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Speaker 1: There's a great carolan at bell Aisle, which we'll be

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talking about later.

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Speaker 2: And we are if we get to it, because at

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this rate it's not looking at.

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Speaker 1: Edward Bach.

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Speaker 2: Fascinating story in a beautiful garden. I have not visited there,

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but I will tell you should I find myself in

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the Orlando area again, I will certainly be making a

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detour because it looks fabulous. It's about the bird, it's

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about the wildlife, and it's about Edward Box. Gift to

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the Americans who helped him realize his dream.

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Speaker 1: You saved the threatened gopher toward.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I meant to look that up. I'm sure it's adorable.

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Speaker 1: When the tortoise arrived, he said, I'll be back. Sorry.

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Speaker 2: All right. On that note, we're gonna take a little break.

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When we come back, we're going to continue our journey

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into Florida Gardens of Police. Stay tuned beautify your home

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Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Shrub,

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where we're continuing our tour of gardens that shaped America

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and public gardens that you can visit, because we're not

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talking about gardens that aren't still around. All of these

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gardens are still around. They are open to the public.

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Some of them may not be open every single day,

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so you do want to check before you go. But

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we wanted to kind of share some gardens around the country,

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big and small, famous and less famous, that the people

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and the garden themselves, and the people who worked in

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and designed the garden helped to shape our history, and

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that's something you can participate in. So we are moving

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to a garden that is named for an extremely significant

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American Most people don't know who he is, and that

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is Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, Florida. So you

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might hear Fairchild and just think, oh, that's just the

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name of the garden, but no, it is named for

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David Fairchild, who, again a lot of people don't know

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who he is, but his impact on American food and

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gardening cannot be overstated.

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Speaker 1: I agree. There's a good chance I would have not

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had avocado toast for breakfast this morning without DN.

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Speaker 2: Can you imagine no avocados? And we have David Fairchild

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to think. So. David Fairchild was born in Lansing, Michigan.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, amazing, Yes, just up the road from

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that studio away.

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Speaker 2: Not far away. But he did not go to Michigan

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State University. I know this will disappoint many of our listeners.

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He then moved to Kansas and graduated from Kansas State,

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which is still an excellent agricultural program. He then, at

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the age of twenty two well worked for the USDA

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as a quote seed explorer and this work for the

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USDA sent David Fairchild all over the world. He went

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to every single continent except Antarctica inert. And this is

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in the nineteen twenties, right, This This is not like

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hop on a plane in fly first class because you're

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a frequent flyer. This is long, long hours in ships

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and motion, sickness and storms and all of that. And

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he is credited with introducing two hundred thousand ornamental and

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food crops to the US unbelieve that is not a

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made up number. That is the actual USDA number. At

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least two hundred thousand different crops he collected around the

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world and brought back to the USDA and brought back

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to the US and just profoundly changed the way that

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we farm and the way that we garden, and the

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way that we eat. So before David Fairchild started bringing

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all of these over, Americans mostly had a pretty meat

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heavy diet. Now, of course, if you lived in a

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warmer climate, you could grow more of your own food,

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and people did grow their own food, but you know,

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that summer season was pretty small. And yes, people can,

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but it's not like you could just go to Meyer

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and buy a you know, case of ball jars and

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it didn't make an impact on your you know, on

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your finances. So he by bringing all of these different

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edible crops to the US, he really changed the way

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people eat. So just some of his introductions include soybeans, pistachios, mangoes, nectarines, dates,

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bamboo no that could be a good or a bad thing,

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depending on how you look at it, kale keen, avocados,

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Asrick said, and those flowering cherries that are so associated

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with Washington, d c. You can thank David Fairchild for those.

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Speaker 1: When I was there, we were having a taste testing

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of mangoes.

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Speaker 2: Oh nice, Fairchild. So we're getting to Fairchild. It is

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one of the best, I think, most significant mango collections

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in the entire US. They do have a mango festival

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every year, and yeah, you can taste how many different

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varieties of mangoes. Did you taste?

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Speaker 1: Cool? There were a few I don't remember, but all

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I remember is they were delicious and juicy, very good.

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Speaker 2: When I was there, it was not mango season, but

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they did show me around and they have a huge

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mango collection. So if you're interested in learning more about

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David Fairchild, there is a great recent book called The

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Food Explorer by Daniel Stone. My husband read it. He

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really enjoyed it. I have not read it, but talks

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more about that history. And then, just briefly while we're

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mentioning books, in David Fairchild. He and his wife, who

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was Marion Bell. She changed her name, of course to

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Maryild the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell Hello. She was

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the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell. She marries David Fairchild.

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They have a house in Maryland as well as in Florida.

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We'll get to the Florida partner moment here, but I

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have to give this a little side detour because I

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know Adriana is gonna want to put this in the

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YouTube video as much as I want to talk about it.

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He and his wife spend one summer constructing this elaborate

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I think it's eighteen foot long camera specifically to photograph insects,

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and they publish these photographs in a book that they

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entitled the Book of Monsters, because in David Fairchild's eyes,

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he said that insects were beautiful, living creatures that deserve

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better than to be quote dried up husks in university

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drawers and that kind of thing. So you can actually

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look at his photos for free on the internet and

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we will put some links there so you can see

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he and his wife's amazing work along this So Fairchild

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Tennic Garden was named for David Fairchild. He was one

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of the founders. You can actually see some of the

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plants that he brought back to Florida that are planted there.

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There's a baobab tree, probably one of very few in

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the continental the US that he collected and planted. And

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he worked with a bunch of Florida and just botanical visionaries,

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including Liberty Hyde Bailey to create this collection in Charter.

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The Fairchild Botanic Garden, not far from Fairchild Botanic Garden,

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is David Fairchild's personal estate. It's called the Campong. It's

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part of the National Tropical Botanic Garden System. It's not

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always open to the public, but it is open to

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the public on certain days. It is be beautiful. It

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is such a special place.

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Speaker 1: As palm trees.

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Speaker 2: The palms are incredible and you can actually see the

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very first literally the very first citrus plants that were

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ever brought back to the US still growing on that property.

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Speaker 1: Amazing, absolutely incredible, and you know many of us, for example,

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houseplants in our homes. We will grow ponytail palms, which

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is not a true palm, but there are massive ponytail

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palms there are also all of the poems really really

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struck me when I was there, and I think it's

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important to note that with Fairchild, if we're getting to

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Fairchild at this point. But that entire region was flattened

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in nineteen ninety two by Hurricane Andrew, and I was

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there a short time after Hurricane Andrew. As a matter

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of fact, I remember walking through some of the fields.

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There's many growers down there, and it's very flat, and

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there's an area called Aladdin City, which has ties to

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us here in Michigan Bay City, Michigan. It was a

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company that produced homes that you could purchase, have shipped

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and all you had to do is put them together

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like a puzzle. And they were flattened by the hurricane

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of the Great Miami Hurricane of nineteen twenty six and

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then soon after so that you get the Great Depression.

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They're out of business. But that's why it's called a

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Laddin City. But there are many many growers down there,

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and growers that I would purchase from as a purchasing agent.

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Like we've talked about Boston ferns as far as the

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eye can see, and I've got a picture to share

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with some of our YouTube viewers. That area is an

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amazing area. And to think of the weather events that

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fair Child Botanical Garden has gone through, and the gardens

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in that area, and the growers in that area. When

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I visited shortly after Hurricane Andrew, the wild dogs and

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the pets that were abandoned after Hurricane Andrew. And Hurricane

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Andrew actually created the movement to cause us to develop

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better methods of caring for pets after such an event

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Hurricane even yea, I have so many memories of it,

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I don't know.

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Speaker 2: It is such a unique area. And there's lizards that

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blew in from different countries, like in the Caribbean. They

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actually literally blew to Florida and have since become established,

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which is a wild thing to think of.

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Speaker 1: Can I mention one more? I got to mention this,

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So Hurricane Andrew's specimens, so many people, many of these

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growers walked away from their farms. The plants are laying

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on their side. What happens in the ensuing years, the

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plants begin to grow at a ninety degree angle to

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the light, and they were sold for premium prices as

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Andrew's specimens. We tried to get our hands on dressinas

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many of these plants, so you have those, and they've

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inspired some of the plant material that you'll find at

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parks in Florida, including the Doctor Seuss Park. So oh, anyhow, so.

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Speaker 2: What's more American than trying to what is it? What's

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the phrase I'm trying to think of, turn like, turn

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something bad into something good?

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, making lemonade?

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Speaker 2: Yea? And what's more American than making lemonade out of lemons?

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So but back briefly to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

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The garden was laid out by William Lyman Phillips, which

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is a somewhat known name for those of us in

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the industry. He got his start as the landscape architect

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for the Panama Canal, which I thought you would find interesting, Rick,

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and he fell so in love with tropical landscaping and

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designing in the tropics that after between the Panama Canal

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and Fairchild Botanic Garden, he settled there. He said, this

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is where I am, and I have to say that

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is my impression too, of going to Fairchild is someone

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who has, you know, worked in gardens and visited gardens,

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you know, all throughout the East Coast and through other

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temperate regions. There is really just no describing how breath

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takingly different it is to be in a totally tropical

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garden like that, and the way that the plants are

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used is completely different. The views are different, the experience

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of being in the garden, and not just because the

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plants look so different, but because everything is just profoundly different.

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And you will really see that if you find yourself

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fortunate enough to go to Fairchild at Botanica Garden. It

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is way down there, but there's so many wonderful things

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to do down in that area.

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Speaker 1: Tropical vines, on pergolos, banana trees. I felt like I

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was in Costa Rica. That's how it felt to me.

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You see any creditin I saw crotons, Absolutely, I saw

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crotons the garden at night unbelievable. Make sure to visit

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that garden at night. That's incredible too. So oh, I

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wanted to quickly mention Bailey palms. Bailey palms, I guess,

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are native to Cuba and they have huge Bailey Palms there.

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Look it up. What an incredible palm tree.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely worth a visit. It's also the home

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of the American Orchid Society, so if you love orchids,

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a great place to visit, just a great place to

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visit all around, named for an extremely fascinating person. So

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next time you find yourself in South Florida, don't just

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get a Cuban sandwich and a mohido. Visit the Fairchild

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Tropical Garden as well. Now I knew that was going

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to take a full segment. We're going to take a

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little break right now. When we come back, we are

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00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:27,519
moving over to Louisiana, so please stay tuned. At Proven

440
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dot Com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the

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00:24:57,759 --> 00:25:00,319
Gardening Simplified Show. Where I'm talking too fast, it's just

450
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,519
because I'm trying really hard to get through all of

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these amazing gardens. It has been slower than I expected,

452
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But I also knew that we were going to be

453
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really excited about these gardens that we've covered so far

454
00:25:10,079 --> 00:25:13,680
in memories, so many it's just interesting stories. And this

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00:25:13,799 --> 00:25:17,519
next garden is no exception whatsoever. We are going to

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Longview Gardens in New Orleans, Louisiana. Now, I have been

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to New Orleans many times. Wonderful city, just like no

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other place on Earth, just an amazing place to visit.

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And I've never been to this garden, but I can

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tell you the next time I go to New Orleans,

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I am making it a top priority because it's actually

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it's not quite in like the downtown area, but it's

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very close. It's very close to City Park, which is

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accessible on the street car, and just a beautiful free

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park that you can visit with a beautiful sculpture garden.

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But Longview is the estate of Edgar and Edith Stern.

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Now Edith Stern was Nay Rosenwoald. She was the heiress

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to the Sears Roebuck fortune, so she had plenty of money.

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Her husband, Edgar Stern, was a native New Orleanian and

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took her down there. She fell instantly in love with

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New Orleans, which is very easy to do. It's such

472
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,160
a beautiful place. And so they built their home in

473
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,240
nineteen twenty four. Very modest by today's standard, but quite

474
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,039
grand then and kind of like a marriage of New

475
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,839
Orleans architecture and Northern architecture.

476
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,519
Speaker 1: Sears used to sell homes out of their catalogue, and

477
00:26:25,559 --> 00:26:28,000
I can tell you that this home did not come

478
00:26:28,079 --> 00:26:29,240
from a Sears catalog.

479
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 2: No I live. Yeah, yeah, so I know. But yeah,

480
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,759
it's a beautiful home. Now, what's really cool is they

481
00:26:36,759 --> 00:26:38,640
started living in this house. They said, hey, this house

482
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,680
is great, but you know what, we just don't have

483
00:26:41,799 --> 00:26:46,000
enough connection to the outdoors. We want a more seamless

484
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:51,599
connection from the home to the outside. We love being outside. Yes,

485
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,640
so they hired Ellen Biddleshipman. Now, in the previous episode,

486
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,799
we talked about Beatrix Farrand at Dunbarton Oaks in Washington,

487
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,640
d C. Ellen but l Shipman was almost a contemporary,

488
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,920
a little bit later than Beatrix f Rand, but one

489
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,599
of the most important female lands or earliest land female

490
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,000
landscape architects in the US. So they can mission Ellen

491
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,119
Biddle Shipman to come down there and design the gardens,

492
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:18,559
and she creates at Longview the very first concept of

493
00:27:18,599 --> 00:27:22,240
what we would now call garden rooms and an effort

494
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,400
to kind of really connect the garden to the house.

495
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,440
So these rooms kind of work off the architecture and

496
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,960
structure of the house. There are views that open up

497
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,200
from doors, and this is such a wild thing for

498
00:27:34,279 --> 00:27:36,160
us to think about because now it's all very natural

499
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,480
for us to have this sort of seamless flow from

500
00:27:38,519 --> 00:27:41,240
the outdoors to the inn and vice versa. But back

501
00:27:41,279 --> 00:27:43,759
then it was pretty much unheard of. And so what

502
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,480
Ellen Biddle Shipman did was to create these garden rooms,

503
00:27:46,519 --> 00:27:50,359
create these grand views. There is not a single window

504
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,759
in the house that does not have a view onto

505
00:27:52,799 --> 00:27:56,599
the garden that relates directly to the garden and how

506
00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,319
it is used. So Ellen Biddleshipman said of her planting

507
00:27:59,319 --> 00:28:02,279
design for Laweview quote, it was as if she were

508
00:28:02,319 --> 00:28:04,920
painting pictures as an artist. This is very much different

509
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,759
than the way other people were planting. They were just like, Okay,

510
00:28:07,799 --> 00:28:10,279
we need some shade here. Put this here. She really

511
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,759
treated the landscape as an artistic composition. She also this

512
00:28:14,799 --> 00:28:17,720
is one of the few surviving at Longview, one of

513
00:28:17,759 --> 00:28:21,319
the few surviving examples of Ellen Biddle Shipman's interpretation of

514
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,480
William Robinson's wild garden stuff. That's something we've talked about

515
00:28:24,519 --> 00:28:28,599
in previous episodes. One of my favorite things. William Robinson's

516
00:28:28,599 --> 00:28:31,440
wild gardens are difficult to preserve if they were created

517
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,000
in the nineteen thirties by a garden designer, because how

518
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:35,680
do you do that. You know, they don't have the

519
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,440
structure and maybe the clear design. So this is one

520
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,440
of the few places you can see her wild gardens,

521
00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:44,000
and I think overall the garden is just a really

522
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,680
interesting study, much like we were saying about Fairchild in

523
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,599
what happens when an East Coast native or a Midwestern

524
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,640
native finds herself in the South. How do you marry

525
00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:58,039
these concepts of the designs and gardens that you know

526
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:02,640
and love with a totally different plant palette. And you know,

527
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,079
whereas in the Midwest or in the Northeast, you might

528
00:29:05,119 --> 00:29:08,880
have a grand allet of oaks or Linden's or something

529
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,079
like that. Longview has a beautiful grand a lay of

530
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,119
live oaks, of course because it's New Orleans, gorgeous, just

531
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:19,119
a really really special place. It was extensively damaged during

532
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,359
Hurricane Katrina. They thought that they might have to close.

533
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,200
But fortunately the Garden Conservancy, which is a wonderful organization

534
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,000
who is doing so much to preserve American gardens. And

535
00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:32,640
we will talk more about the Garden Conservancy when and

536
00:29:32,759 --> 00:29:35,880
if we eventually get to California. And we talked about

537
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:40,039
the Ruth Bancroft Garden, but extensive damage at Hurricane Katrina.

538
00:29:40,039 --> 00:29:41,599
They thought they might have to shut it down or

539
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,160
you know, even demolish it. But the Garden Conservancy stepped in,

540
00:29:44,759 --> 00:29:48,480
volunteers stepped in, and they were able to renovate the

541
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,799
gardens and it is open for you to visit today.

542
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:56,839
Speaker 1: Important to note there yes extensive damage during Hurricane Katrina.

543
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,759
They need help again, they need funds, they need volunteers

544
00:30:01,799 --> 00:30:06,319
because they got belted this year. On June seventeen, am

545
00:30:06,599 --> 00:30:09,799
hit by an EF one tornado and they are still

546
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,240
so there are parts of the garden that are currently closed.

547
00:30:13,279 --> 00:30:20,000
They are open, but again they've sustained damage just recently

548
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:25,039
so what a wonderful place, fascinating you look at the

549
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,720
vista and the oaks. It makes me think of Gone

550
00:30:27,799 --> 00:30:28,359
with the Wind.

551
00:30:28,759 --> 00:30:30,839
Speaker 2: Yes, and this was Yeah, this was a new home

552
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,440
that they commissioned in sort of their own unique style,

553
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,160
rather than take over some place that had been around

554
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:38,720
for a really long time. And I do want to

555
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,559
say I'm glad you brought that up about the tornado

556
00:30:40,599 --> 00:30:43,440
because a lot of times, depending on who you're traveling with,

557
00:30:44,359 --> 00:30:46,160
you go to these gardens and you might see in

558
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,519
an admission fee that gives you a little bit of

559
00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:52,720
a sticker shock. But cards are not easy to maintain.

560
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,119
Any of us can tell you that. I think we're

561
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:59,440
preaching to the choir here, and you know, having horticulturists

562
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,519
who know what they're doing, and having people, you know,

563
00:31:02,599 --> 00:31:05,160
buying plants and the labor and all of.

564
00:31:05,119 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 1: Them maintaining herbariums and that sort of thing. Yes, so

565
00:31:09,079 --> 00:31:09,640
very important.

566
00:31:09,839 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 2: So don't let something like a tornado at long if

567
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,039
you stop you from visiting. They need your money more

568
00:31:15,079 --> 00:31:16,920
than ever, so please do make an effort. And the

569
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:18,440
house is open to you. So it's not just the garden,

570
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,839
because obviously if the house and garden are connected. You've

571
00:31:20,839 --> 00:31:22,400
got to see the garden from the house. You can't

572
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:23,759
just see the house from the garden.

573
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, and by the way, got to mention this

574
00:31:27,079 --> 00:31:31,079
because I've driven through there. If you're going to visit Longview.

575
00:31:31,839 --> 00:31:35,119
Right nearby is the National World War Two Museum.

576
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:35,799
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.

577
00:31:35,839 --> 00:31:38,799
Speaker 1: And some people would question why is the World War

578
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:44,480
Two Museum in New Orleans not in Washington or someplace

579
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,279
like that. And it's because of mister Higgins who the

580
00:31:48,359 --> 00:31:52,279
Higgins boats of World War Two. It was Dwight Eisenhower

581
00:31:52,319 --> 00:31:56,559
who said it was Higgins boats that won the war

582
00:31:56,759 --> 00:32:00,720
for them, these these landing crafts that allowed them to

583
00:32:00,759 --> 00:32:04,400
put troops on shore distant shores. So that's why the

584
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:09,440
World War II National World War Two Museum is there.

585
00:32:09,559 --> 00:32:12,160
Andrew Jackson Higgins of New.

586
00:32:12,039 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 2: Orleans, I did not know that. All right, All right,

587
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,000
now we are going to take a big leap north

588
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,119
to the Missouri Botanic Garden. Have you been to the

589
00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:21,039
Missouri Botanic.

590
00:32:20,839 --> 00:32:24,279
Speaker 1: Gary, Yes, I have, and the place is huge. Yeah,

591
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,599
have your good walking shoes ready to go.

592
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:29,559
Speaker 2: Try to go on a nice day when it's not

593
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:31,640
you know, one hundred some degrees.

594
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 1: But it is. Yeah, that's true, it can get very

595
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,960
warm there, but it's important that we touch on it

596
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,200
because it's I'm told, one of the nation's oldest botanical gardens,

597
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,240
open to the public in eighteen fifty nine.

598
00:32:44,319 --> 00:32:46,960
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it was founded by a private citizen who

599
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,920
was out, you know, riding his horse, and said, hey,

600
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,079
this looks like a fine prospect. Yeah, and kind of

601
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:57,359
staked his claim and built various structures. In addition to

602
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:01,880
being one of the nation's oldest continuously functioning botanical gardens,

603
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,200
the eighteen eighty two Lineean House, a very old greenhouse,

604
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,160
is one of the oldest continuously operating greenhouses in the US.

605
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,200
And now I looked at pictures of this whatever you

606
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,960
know picture you have in your mind's eye as a greenhouse,

607
00:33:15,319 --> 00:33:17,319
get it out of there and look up the line

608
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,240
In house, because it is like nothing else I have

609
00:33:20,359 --> 00:33:23,720
ever seen. It is so cool and so interesting, and

610
00:33:23,839 --> 00:33:28,720
really I think says a lot about how steel, for example,

611
00:33:29,039 --> 00:33:32,240
has changed the way that we can build. And then

612
00:33:32,319 --> 00:33:35,839
when you see the actual conservatory, the newer, you know,

613
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,519
more contemporary conservatory at the Missouri Botanic Garden, what you

614
00:33:39,559 --> 00:33:41,799
will notice is that it was one of the first

615
00:33:41,839 --> 00:33:45,440
conservative conservatories built without internal pillars.

616
00:33:45,559 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fascinating. I think they call it the climate.

617
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:52,640
Speaker 2: Trun yes, yeah, which does not do it justice. But

618
00:33:52,759 --> 00:33:56,039
it doesn't have internal pillars, so you don't have these big,

619
00:33:56,599 --> 00:34:01,480
you know, structural pillars kind of impede your views across

620
00:34:01,519 --> 00:34:05,160
these very you know climate domes that they have for

621
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:06,920
all of the different areas. And that's something that's so

622
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,320
you know, natural to us. Now, of course it can

623
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,199
be built that way, but for it's time, it was

624
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,639
truly revolutionary, and especially when you contrast that with the

625
00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:16,360
Linnaean House. Now, one of the things that I think

626
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,960
is most important about the Missouri Botanic Garden, whether or

627
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,639
not you live within driving distance or will be driving

628
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:27,639
by it to visit, it is by far one of

629
00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:30,719
the absolute best resources for North American home gardeners.

630
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,800
Speaker 1: You've got it for home gardening, the plant Finder resource,

631
00:34:35,039 --> 00:34:38,719
all of that type of thing, the support that they provide.

632
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:44,079
They're committed to conservation science, awareness of plants. You bet.

633
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a great website. I can tell you

634
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,679
I rely on it personally all the time to get

635
00:34:50,039 --> 00:34:54,280
accurate information and to help me understand plants better. And

636
00:34:54,639 --> 00:34:56,280
so whether or not you ever get to visit the

637
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,639
Missouri Botanic Garden. Definitely visit their website. You may have

638
00:34:59,639 --> 00:35:02,320
already visited it just because you searched for a plant

639
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:04,679
question and it came up. But I think one of

640
00:35:04,679 --> 00:35:06,679
the best things that they are doing in their role

641
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:08,840
is quote the Nation's Botanic Garden, because that is kind

642
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:13,000
of their sub headline. There is just providing us reputable

643
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:18,239
scientific information about plants and how to grow them that you.

644
00:35:18,119 --> 00:35:21,559
Speaker 1: Can trust exactly. Oh and tied into that because you know,

645
00:35:21,639 --> 00:35:24,400
I love bulbs. They do a great job with bulbs,

646
00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:28,559
spring and summer bulbs. Because now we've moved far enough

647
00:35:28,599 --> 00:35:33,480
north into Missouri where they can do that, and wow, fabulous.

648
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,639
Speaker 2: All right, we already have to take another Breakay, we

649
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,360
only got to two gardens. All right, We're going to

650
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,719
do that and when we come back, we'll have to

651
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:42,199
finish up the show. But we've got a couple more

652
00:35:42,199 --> 00:35:50,599
great ones for you, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening

653
00:35:50,599 --> 00:35:53,280
to the Gardening Simplified podcast, brought to you by Proven

654
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:56,440
Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and

655
00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,639
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656
00:35:59,639 --> 00:36:04,559
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657
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,079
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. So much to

658
00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:10,559
talk about, so little time to talk about it. As

659
00:36:10,599 --> 00:36:13,239
a matter of fact, next week we'll go to Chicago,

660
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:17,639
the City of Big Shoulders Carl Sandberg, and boy, there

661
00:36:17,679 --> 00:36:21,360
are some great gardens in the Chicago area. But Stacey,

662
00:36:22,039 --> 00:36:24,760
let's jump over to where are we going Minnesota?

663
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 2: Well, first, we're actually going to Indianapolis, Indiana. Yes, yeah, yeah, Now,

664
00:36:30,039 --> 00:36:31,719
this is a garden that not a lot of people

665
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:33,079
have heard of it. In fact, the only reason I

666
00:36:33,119 --> 00:36:35,440
had heard of it was because one of my colleagues

667
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,599
from horticulture school used to be the horticulturists there, and

668
00:36:38,679 --> 00:36:41,519
unfortunately I never got around to visiting her, which I

669
00:36:41,599 --> 00:36:43,320
very much regret because she has since moved to a

670
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:48,400
wonderful garden in Maine. But Minnetrista was founded as the

671
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:53,119
home of the Ball family, as in Ball Job. Yes,

672
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,000
so they were originally founded in Buffalo, New York, and

673
00:36:57,119 --> 00:36:59,280
the whole family, all the brothers, all five of them

674
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,599
I think there were up and moved to Muncie, Indiana,

675
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,760
just sort of north east of Indianapolis, and they all

676
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:10,800
built homes on this big property to run their glass

677
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:16,119
jar empire, but they were all into gardening and eventually

678
00:37:16,199 --> 00:37:19,559
transitioned the garden to the public as a public garden,

679
00:37:19,639 --> 00:37:22,559
so you can still see many of the Ball family's

680
00:37:22,599 --> 00:37:27,000
original homes. There's all sorts of different unique gardens there,

681
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:31,119
sort of Midwestern home educated home gardening education and that

682
00:37:31,199 --> 00:37:36,079
kind of thing. But what really fascinated me as part

683
00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:38,400
of the American story, even though this isn't directly related

684
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:43,960
to gardens, it kind of is. Minnietrista is where the

685
00:37:44,159 --> 00:37:48,880
Bob Ross Painting Show was films Wow, and it is

686
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,519
the only Bob Ross museum, the official Bob Ross museum

687
00:37:52,519 --> 00:37:56,440
where you can actually see his paintings. You can see

688
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,719
the studio where the show was filmed, because this is

689
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,519
actually in one of the homes of the Ball family,

690
00:38:01,519 --> 00:38:04,239
so that's where they set up the studio. You can

691
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:06,599
see his palette, you can see his paint brushes and

692
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:08,840
all of this other wonderful stuff. So it's one of

693
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,360
those gardens that you know, like we all have ball

694
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,360
jars in our house, right, Like you can't even if

695
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,199
you don't, can you don't not have a ball jar

696
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:17,639
in your house, you can't avoid it. I think it's

697
00:38:17,639 --> 00:38:21,760
like a requisite of being in a arrangement exactly. And

698
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,679
so it was founded, you know, on those glass jars,

699
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:26,880
and then then we get Bob Ross in here. So

700
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,159
just you know, America a land of contrasts.

701
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,800
Speaker 1: Yes, happy birthday.

702
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:38,159
Speaker 2: You know what. Speaking of birthdays, it's our two hundred show.

703
00:38:39,119 --> 00:38:44,800
Speaker 1: That's right, episode number two hundred. Not quite as old

704
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:46,599
as the United States.

705
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:52,039
Speaker 2: No, not in episode years, in episode years. Yeah, So congratulations,

706
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,679
a congratulations. I can't believe we've made it two hundred shows.

707
00:38:56,679 --> 00:38:58,840
That's awesome. Yeah, all right, Well we are going to

708
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,440
take a quick d two were we're not going in

709
00:39:01,559 --> 00:39:03,559
great geographical order, but there was too much to say

710
00:39:03,599 --> 00:39:05,920
about Chicago's We're going to say that for next week.

711
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,239
But we're going to be staying here in Michigan with

712
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:11,400
the One the Only bell Isle.

713
00:39:11,599 --> 00:39:14,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can visit it. You're not going to

714
00:39:14,639 --> 00:39:18,559
have an entry fee to visit the beautiful Nature Center

715
00:39:18,679 --> 00:39:22,199
and the Pete Odolph Garden there. You will have to

716
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:26,679
pay to drive drive there. There's a state park.

717
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:27,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a state park. So if you have a

718
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,280
state park fee, if you have a state park pass

719
00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:33,159
on your license plate, you can go there for free. Now,

720
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,960
Belle Isle is a place that's truly near and dear

721
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,320
to my heart. My grandparents grew up in the Detroit area,

722
00:39:38,599 --> 00:39:40,400
so it was a place that they took us a lot.

723
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,400
It was the first public garden that I was ever

724
00:39:42,639 --> 00:39:45,760
at in my entire life. I clearly remember my very

725
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,719
first visit to the beautiful Anna Script's Whitcomb Conservatory with

726
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,079
my grandma, and it is still just as beautiful and wonderful.

727
00:39:54,119 --> 00:39:56,559
But when I was reading about the history of Belle Isle,

728
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,519
I found out something really interesting. So it was originally

729
00:40:00,519 --> 00:40:04,320
called Swan Island by the unnish Nabe people of Detroit,

730
00:40:05,159 --> 00:40:08,639
and it was its formation was attributed to Sleeping Bear.

731
00:40:08,679 --> 00:40:10,800
Of course, we all know about Sleeping Bear dunes up north.

732
00:40:11,519 --> 00:40:14,039
Sleeping Bear was the spirit he protected his daughter by

733
00:40:14,119 --> 00:40:16,639
keeping her in a wooden box. Unlike Michigan. Now, for

734
00:40:16,639 --> 00:40:19,440
those of you who are not native Michiganders or aren't

735
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,159
familiar with what Michigan looks like, Michigan looks like this.

736
00:40:22,639 --> 00:40:26,239
So Belle Isle is over here in the river between

737
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,280
Canada and Detroit, way over here by the thumb, kind

738
00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:32,719
of like Michigan is over here where we are. So

739
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,519
it's pretty interesting to me that this, you know, group

740
00:40:36,559 --> 00:40:40,440
of Native Americans had the you know, this mythology over

741
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,039
clear over on the other side of the state. So

742
00:40:43,199 --> 00:40:45,880
Sleeping Bear was protecting his daughter over on like Michigan.

743
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:47,800
No one could get to her. The north and west

744
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,960
winds fought for her. It created a huge storm. It

745
00:40:51,119 --> 00:40:53,039
swept up the box that he was keeping her in.

746
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,280
Not a great dad move, I don't think. Pieces of

747
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:58,800
it lodged at the mouth of the Detroit River and

748
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,440
they became one on another Swan island because of all

749
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,719
of the swans, And the legend says that the daughter

750
00:41:06,079 --> 00:41:09,960
still inhabits the island in the form of a white dough.

751
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,440
So if you were ever on Belle Isle and you

752
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,880
see a white dough, I don't know what to tell you,

753
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,719
but it would be fascinating. There used to be deer

754
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,760
around on the island. I remember that from when I

755
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,000
was a kid. But the thing about Belle Isle, as

756
00:41:24,039 --> 00:41:26,719
far as it being a contemporary gardener, an important garden,

757
00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:30,280
it was designed by the one, the only, Frederick Law Olmsted,

758
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:32,920
because of course it was so it's really hard, I think,

759
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:39,039
to explain how in demand Frederick law Olmsted became after

760
00:41:39,119 --> 00:41:42,280
Central Park, like nobody could get enough of the guy.

761
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,679
This guy could not get to enough places. Every single

762
00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:49,119
city wanted their own version of Central Park, and I

763
00:41:49,119 --> 00:41:51,960
think it became basically like a bidding war to try

764
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,320
to get Frederick law Olmsted to come and do a

765
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:55,079
project in your.

766
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:58,840
Speaker 1: City, because Belle Isle is considered Detroit's backyard.

767
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,039
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, and so it served very much a similar

768
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:06,360
role that Central Park did, which was fresh air and

769
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:10,400
recreation for a burgeoning urban industrial climate. I mean, you

770
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:12,840
have to remember back in eighteen seventy nine when bell

771
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,639
Isle was founded as a public park. You know, just

772
00:42:15,679 --> 00:42:18,599
try to think about everything that was happening. All the industry.

773
00:42:18,639 --> 00:42:21,599
Detroit was making, stoves, Detroit was making I can't even

774
00:42:21,639 --> 00:42:24,760
list all of the things. This was well before automobiles even,

775
00:42:25,199 --> 00:42:30,159
but Detroit was a massive industrial capital and it probably stunk.

776
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,719
It was dirty, absolutely, it was stinky. Everybody was working

777
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:36,400
in factories. So to have this place that if you've

778
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,239
ever been there, right, it's close ish to the city,

779
00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:40,960
but it's not in the city, so you're far enough

780
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:42,639
away that you can kind of get some fresh air.

781
00:42:42,679 --> 00:42:46,440
It's in the river. And so he designed it it's

782
00:42:46,519 --> 00:42:51,920
very different than Central Park, but some beautiful original features

783
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,039
like that gorgeous fountain. The bridge over to Belle Isle

784
00:42:55,159 --> 00:42:59,480
is so so lovely and really, I think, and this

785
00:42:59,559 --> 00:43:01,320
is true of of many of the gardens that we've

786
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:04,039
talked about, and even just when we talked about Longview today,

787
00:43:04,679 --> 00:43:08,519
that feeling of transition, you know, when you're going down

788
00:43:08,559 --> 00:43:11,400
the long drive at Longview Gardens, when you're crossing the

789
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:14,920
bridge at Belle Isle, it starts to prepare you for

790
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:19,000
this really different experience that you're going to have, you know,

791
00:43:19,079 --> 00:43:23,000
while you are in that garden. So it really does that. Now.

792
00:43:23,039 --> 00:43:25,800
The Antascripts Whitcomb Conservatory was opened in nineteen oh four.

793
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:30,119
It is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the US.

794
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,719
It has something that not enough if you ask me

795
00:43:34,079 --> 00:43:38,880
public garden conservatories have. It has a fern grotto. Have

796
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,119
you been there? Have you been to the.

797
00:43:42,679 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 1: Remember?

798
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,199
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it is just Adriana knows what I'm

799
00:43:46,199 --> 00:43:48,679
talking about because she's from the Detroit area too. It

800
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:50,960
is extraordinary and it's small, like I don't want to

801
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:52,400
build it up for people and they go, oh, is

802
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:54,880
that all there is? And I will say both and

803
00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:57,840
our other coworkers who are from Detroit had this similar experience.

804
00:43:58,239 --> 00:44:00,800
It's just a magical little space. Now, when I was young,

805
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:02,440
you could actually go down there. Now you can only

806
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,599
kind of look over it. But it is a fern

807
00:44:05,679 --> 00:44:09,840
collection and it's very much in keeping with this nineteen

808
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,719
oh four style. And so many of these old conservatories

809
00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:17,039
and gardens they kind of update, right they they become

810
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:20,519
more contemporary, they make changes. They say, oh, ferneries, you know,

811
00:44:20,639 --> 00:44:24,039
that's so nineteen oh four. But they've really maintained it

812
00:44:24,119 --> 00:44:28,840
and it is just an extraordinarily beautiful special place. There's

813
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,119
really I've been to gardens all over the world, and

814
00:44:31,199 --> 00:44:35,159
the fernery at the Antiscripts wo Come Conservatory will always

815
00:44:35,199 --> 00:44:38,320
have an extra special place in my heart. And you know,

816
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:40,719
the conservatory itself is built so interestingly rout with a

817
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:41,519
fish pond around it.

818
00:44:41,679 --> 00:44:45,880
Speaker 1: Yes, And part of what makes bell Isle so special

819
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,639
to me is Pete Odolf. And when we go to

820
00:44:48,719 --> 00:44:52,280
Chicago next week, we'll talk about the Leury Garden three

821
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:58,800
acre perennial garden there, thirty two thousand hardy perennials and grasses.

822
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:03,960
Of course, Pete love to use ornamental grasses as structure

823
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,880
within a garden, So that's a great garden to visit there.

824
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,000
Also it makes up three acres there.

825
00:45:10,119 --> 00:45:12,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's right in front of the conservatory, so

826
00:45:12,159 --> 00:45:13,800
you don't have to go all over bell Isle to

827
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,000
see all of the wonderful gardens. I have not been

828
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:18,800
there to see the Pete Udolph Garden yet. I know

829
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:21,039
it was off to a very slow start. Initially it

830
00:45:21,079 --> 00:45:22,920
was delayed by funding and bell Isle has been a

831
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,360
place that has been be set by a bunch of

832
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:27,159
different problems like that. But it seems like it's on

833
00:45:27,199 --> 00:45:30,480
the right track now. It's absolutely worth a visit. And

834
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:35,239
so it was beset from initially funding problems, then COVID,

835
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:40,119
then flooding correct and then finally it has come to fruition.

836
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:42,760
And I'm sure it's still establishing because it's been around

837
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:43,599
maybe three or four years.

838
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,880
Speaker 1: It's establishing. But it's the first public garden to incorporate

839
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:52,280
all three of Odolf's iconic planting styles, block matrix and

840
00:45:52,519 --> 00:45:57,199
group planting. And again, I love Pete Odolph because he

841
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:01,079
sounds just like my ninety six year old there. It's

842
00:46:01,199 --> 00:46:03,559
Dutch accent. I just love it. Amazing.

843
00:46:03,679 --> 00:46:05,280
Speaker 2: Is your dad as stylish as Peterodolpha.

844
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:06,480
Speaker 1: No, no, no.

845
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:10,239
Speaker 2: He's very stylish. And as you said, there's a Carolon

846
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:14,039
on Bellisle. Bellisle really is almost like, you know, compared

847
00:46:14,079 --> 00:46:17,400
to Central Park, which is kind of very sublime and massive,

848
00:46:17,519 --> 00:46:20,480
and you have these moments of you know, even though

849
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:22,440
you're in the city, just kind of being lost in nature.

850
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:24,880
You never really lose that sense of connection to the

851
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:28,800
city in Detroit or at bell Isle, but it's still

852
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,360
there's just so much to do, and there is Carolin.

853
00:46:32,079 --> 00:46:35,760
It's the oldest continuously operating aquarium in the US, and

854
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,800
I love and Adriana is cheering on the bell Isle

855
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:41,199
Aquarium as well. If you grew up with a bell

856
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:43,599
Isle aquarium, there's just no substitute for it. I know,

857
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:45,519
probably a lot of people would visit it and go

858
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:48,039
like really, but for those of us who grew up

859
00:46:48,039 --> 00:46:51,679
with it, it is truly an extraordinary place. And just

860
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:53,679
you know, I'm not just saying this because it meant

861
00:46:53,679 --> 00:46:56,320
a lot to me personally, but Michigan does not have

862
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,079
a lot of public gardens by and large, you know,

863
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:02,000
sadly we have very few compared to a lot of

864
00:47:02,039 --> 00:47:04,480
other states that we've been through where we've had multiple

865
00:47:05,599 --> 00:47:07,039
so we'll take what we can get, and I think

866
00:47:07,079 --> 00:47:09,079
that Belle Isle is definitely something that we can be

867
00:47:09,159 --> 00:47:09,480
proud of.

868
00:47:10,079 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: Absolutely happy two hundredth episodes.

869
00:47:14,119 --> 00:47:17,280
Speaker 2: Yes, happy two hundred Yeah. Well, Rick, I have to confess,

870
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,159
I thought we'd get a lot farther in the episode

871
00:47:19,159 --> 00:47:21,559
today than we did, but you just can't stop us

872
00:47:21,559 --> 00:47:22,039
from having.

873
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:23,679
Speaker 1: Again just scratching the surface.

874
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:27,039
Speaker 2: I know we really are. As Adriana said, maybe this

875
00:47:27,159 --> 00:47:28,800
is just the show now. No, not really. We will

876
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:32,239
eventually be back to our regularly scheduled programming with lots

877
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:34,920
of good information about plants. But for now, we hope

878
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,159
you pick out some gardens that you've heard about, spend

879
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:40,000
a little time looking at them. Make sure you watch

880
00:47:40,039 --> 00:47:41,760
the YouTube version of the show so that you can

881
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,199
see all the photos and that kind of thing that

882
00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:45,599
Adriana is including in the episode, so you can get

883
00:47:45,639 --> 00:47:48,880
a little flavor of all of the amazing places that

884
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:52,840
we're talking about. So thanks Rick, thank you, thanks Adriana,

885
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:54,000
and thanks to all of you. We hope you have

886
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:54,679
a wonderful week.