Corvallis man transforms 10 acres into Zen garden

When Jay Gray bought 10 acres off of Sulphur Springs Road 22 years ago, the property was overgrown, the house was a mess and the yard was littered with junk cars, boats and transmissions.

Gray had to use a machete to bushwhack his way through dense blackberries to Soap Creek that runs through his property to find out if the stream was even accessible for trout fishing.

Later, with the help of landscaper Mike Riddle of Trillium Landscaping of Corvallis, Gray carved out the Garden of Gentle Breeze, a Japanese-themed strolling garden that covers about an acre.

“In 2008, the idea occurred to me to make a Japanese garden but I had no idea how to start or who to ask for help,” he said. “My youngest son was dating a girl at the time and he mentioned that her grandfather was a landscape gardener.”

It turned out Riddle was familiar with Japanese gardens so Gray, who grew up in Corvallis, invited him out to his property, and his Zen garden became a reality at a cost of about $75,000.

Visitors can enjoy his efforts beginning their tour on flat Three Rivers rock that leads to an arbor of two pin oaks positioned on both sides of the walkway.

“The walkway represents the path of life,” Gray said. “The path trails out of sight just like life because our futures are unknown to us. Something intrigues us however about the future so we keep walking.”

Before going too far, walkers can pause at a bowl, where they scoop water into a dipper and then pour it over their hands and then pat their face. “The water symbolically purifies the mind and reminds us to move and think at a slower pace,” he said.

Along this part of the path are rhododendrons, azaleas, a flowering cherry tree, bamboo and foxglove.

“A Japanese garden is not about flowers like English and Western gardens,” Gray said. “It’s about greens, shapes and contrasts.”

Up ahead is a place to sit down to “contemplate the features of the garden and to calm down,” he said.

From there, visitors follow a path marked by pine, filbert and Japanese maple trees; more rhododendrons; bracken and sword fern; and they will hear the soothing sounds given off by small waterfalls.

Stone seating benches appear near a reflecting pool.

Farther along, Gray has retained the plants and trees native to the property for guests to enjoy as they take a series of steps down to the creek and then back up to the start of the path.

The four elements of earth, water, air and fire are represented throughout the walk to help people achieve a balance between yin and yang. “Stones set in the earth give us a grounded sense and fire is symbolized by the lanterns that light our path,” he said.

Gray walks the path each morning and evening. The walks restore him and give him the chance to pull weeds, remove deadfall and recall how much he has accomplished since moving in as a single father in 1990.

“About a dozen people looked at my house before I bought it but they decided it would take too much work to fix it,” he said. “But because I had handyman skills, I wasn’t deterred. Every blade of grass, the rocks and the plants now here were put where they are by hand.”

Gray’s interest in things Asian developed further while majoring in Asian philosophy and religion as an undergraduate at Oregon State University He spent a year at Waseda University in Tokyo and then attended Yale Divinity School.

Over the years, he returned to Japan to visit ancient and treasured gardens, finally deciding to make one where he lived.

Gray is working with the Benton County Planning Department to get a variance so he can officially open his garden to the public. There will have to be a public hearing, and he hopes his neighbors don’t object to his plan.

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If you go

The garden, which towered with old-growth Douglas fir before it was logged off in the 1920s, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily or by appointment. Visitors should notify Gray ahead of time that they are coming. They can call him at 541-745-7315 or email him at jaygray44@gmail.com.

The garden is at 26907 Sulphur Springs Road, about 6 miles from the Corvallis city limits.

NORTHWEST GARDEN writers are coming on strong this spring, with books on everything from free-range chickens to crafting a pergola of plumbing pipes. Gardening is nothing if not local, so you can be sure that the featured plants, techniques and materials suit our climate. Every one of these authors gardens in the Seattle area — except for Willi Galloway, but Portland qualifies as local.

“Handmade Garden Projects: Step-by-Step Instructions for Creative Garden Features, Containers, Lighting More,” by Lorene Edwards Forkner (Timber Press, $19.95). My favorite of Forkner’s do-it-yourself projects is a cocktail table fashioned of river rock, corralled in a circle of fencing and topped with tempered glass. Or maybe it’s her earth-friendly ideas for permeable paving, or the mini-orchard growing in a galvanized feed trough. Most of these ideas were incubated in Forkner’s tiny marvel of a garden in West Seattle, so the scale suits urban spaces. Her instructions are practical, her aesthetic pleasingly funky. Allan Mandell’s photos are an added treat.

“Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening,” by Willi Galloway (Sasquatch Books, $29.95). Galloway’s enthusiasm and expertise inform every page of her first book. Don’t be fooled by the elegant design; this isn’t a book about landscaping with edibles. It’s a down-to-earth look at how to organically and successfully grow your dinner. What makes this book stand out from the hundreds of other new vegetable-gardening books? It’s Galloway’s recommendations for varieties that thrive here, from blueberries to basil. And her eclectic recipes ensure that “Grow Cook Eat” won’t languish on the book shelf. You’ll have it out on the kitchen counter to try Shaved Summer Squash with Pecorino Romano, maybe with Raspberry-Infused Vodka Spritzers.

“The 50 Mile Bouquet: Seasonal, Local and Sustainable Flowers,” by Debra Prinzing and David E. Perry (St. Lynn’s Press, $17.95). Prinzing followed her love of fresh, organic flowers all the way up the West Coast and to a few points east, interviewing flower farmers and designers, attending weddings and festivities where sumptuous, eco-sensitive bouquets set the tone. Perry captured the people and places she visited in vivid, dreamy photos that do justice to the beauty of the flowers. Prinzing distinguishes between scentless, uniform “factory flowers” and “green” floral design. From do-it-yourself arrangements to the most sophisticated designs, all are created from healthy, local, artful ingredients.

“Landscaping for Privacy: Innovative Ways to Turn Your Outdoor Space into a Peaceful Retreat,” by Marty Wingate (Timber Press, $19.95). If there’s one issue, besides weeds, that every gardener deals with it’s creating a zone of peace and privacy around their homes. Wingate illustrates solutions to a wide variety of privacy issues. While the screens, hedges and gates in the book do the job of creating a safe haven from traffic and neighbors, I wished for more modern designs and urban, small-space examples. Especially useful will be the extensive lists of plants.

“Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard,” by Jessi Bloom (Timber Press, $19.95). This ode to fowl is by a former Rat City Roller Girl who’s also a mother and award-winning garden designer. Bloom not only showcases her own Mill Creek garden with horses, kids, vegetables and recyclables, but also other Northwest gardens where chickens run free. From chicken training (really?) to the intricacies of coops, Bloom shares her hard-earned knowledge. The photos of chickens happily bustling around are so appealing that even skeptics will have to admit there’s a lovely affinity between gardens and chickens.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of “petal twig.” Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com.

20 May 2012
Last updated at 20:44 ET

The introduction of the ban in April followed the fifth driest March since records began in 1910

Thames Water has relaxed its hosepipe ban for gardening businesses after record rainfall reduced the severity of drought conditions.

Landscaping, turf and gardening firms will be allowed to use hosepipes to water newly-laid turf and plants, for up to 28 days from planting.

However, the ban remains in force for the rest of the firm’s 8.8m customers.

Thames was one of seven water suppliers to impose restrictions on its customers, on 5 April.

Since then, two-and-a-half times the normal amount of rain fell last month and there have been frequent showers through much of May.

‘Serious shortage’

The relaxation of the ban only applies for a period of 28 days from the day of planting, sowing or turf-laying.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We will lift the ban completely as soon as we can”

End Quote
Richard Aylard
Thames Water

Richard Aylard, Thames Water’s sustainability director, said: “Our restrictions have caused real difficulties for some gardening businesses.

“We are relieved to be in a position to take this step, which will enable them to carry on designing, landscaping, maintaining and building new features and gardens, while safeguarding their livelihoods and those of their employees.

“From today they will be able to water where necessary to get new gardens, lawns and plants established, and their clients will be able to continue this for up to 28 days.”

Defra has confirmed London and the south-east still have a “serious water shortage” despite recent rain, with groundwater levels still exceptionally low in some areas.

‘Topsy-turvy weather’

Mr Aylard added: “When we imposed the hosepipe ban in April after the two driest years ever in our region and without knowing how long it would stay dry, we were preparing for the worst while of course hoping for the best.

“Since then the heavens have opened and stayed open.

“But while the topsy-turvy British weather – record downpours after a record dry spell – has been working in our favour lately, we need to see how much water gets deep underground where we need it for what could still be a hot-dry summer.

“We will lift the ban completely as soon as we can.”

Good things do come in small packages as Iris Gold and Steven Katz demonstrate in their small edible garden in Larkspur. And today they’ll show how their garden grows to a small group from the Bay-Friendly Garden Tours.

Their “mini organic farm” borders on the Larkspur Lagoon, with Mt. Tamalpais in the backdrop. When Iris and Steven first started gardening here, the soil was bay mud and the plants were mostly junipers. Over 23 years they have cultivated the soil, and created a nourishing garden for food, beauty, and relaxation. Containers were used to raise plants above saltwater intrusion from the lagoon. Edibles and ornamentals are intermixed with flowers grown for Ikebana flower arrangements.

The Bay-Friendly Garden Tours help people share their passion for gardening with the community. This spring the tour will open gates to 69 diverse gardens located in geographic clusters in four counties. There will also be day of talks and plant sales to help turn inspiration into action. Marin County will be featuring 11 host locations; Larkspur will be hosting 3 gardens, 3 talks and 1 plant sale.

One of the showcased gardens is at the Marin Brain Injury Network. This extra large garden site features espaliered fruit trees, habitat garden, rainwater retention, dry creek bed, owl house and raised beds with edibles. A native demonstration garden planted with drought tolerant species borders the Corte Madera Creek Marsh bike path. Master Gardeners Pat Compton and Karen Halvorsen are the driving forces behind this volunteer-built garden.

With the staff at MBIN, they develop garden therapy activities and garden work areas tailored to the special needs of the brain injured clients. Many items here have been salvaged and repurposed, including old bicycles, Tuscan tiles, wine bottles, and a former sofa now planted in groundcovers and succulents. The restoration areas along the bike path were covered with fennel and broom and have been replaced with succulents, a hedgerow, trees, meadow, shrubs, perennials, grasses and wildflowers.

A special plant sale Saturday will benefit MBIN, and local author Annie Spiegelman will be in the garden for a book signing of Talking Dirt.

Bay Area landscaper Avis Licht of Sweetbriar Landscape Design has been designing and installing edible landscapes for 30 years and will share simple tips to turn ornamental landscapes into a beautiful and productive landscape during her talk, Edible Landscaping Made Easy.

In its first year, the Chelsea Fringe features gardens, art installations and performances, which are mostly free and open to all ages.

The Independent on Sunday last week got its hands dirty by helping to create one of the centrepieces of the Fringe: the Oranges and Lemons Garden in Shoreditch, east London.

A young designer, Daniel Shea, has transformed the courtyard of St Leonard’s Church – renowned for the Bells of Shoreditch in the nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” – in the edgy east London quarter into an oasis of citrus fruit, bay and olive trees, where passers-by can sink into deckchairs and eat French-Vietnamese food. The church is also the setting for the BBC 2 comedy Rev.

Created with the support of volunteers from the New Hanbury Project, a rehabilitation centre in the grounds of St Leonard’s, the local Women’s Institute branch, Shoreditch Sisters, and Clifton Nurseries, the garden encapsulates the community-inspired spirit of the Fringe.

Mr Shea, 28, said: “Chelsea Flower Show is the greatest show on earth but it’s quite expensive now. It’s also quite inaccessible for a new designer like me who doesn’t have the budget, portfolio or contacts to build a garden, hence the reason I immediately latched on to the Chelsea Fringe idea. It’s a great platform for me to launch a career, and it goes to show what can be achieved.

“I’ve lived and worked in this area for the past five years, and it’s a wonderful thriving hub of a community, very creative and diverse.

“Unfortunately, there is a lack of green space where people can relax and take time out of their hectic lives. Our cities need a balance of hard landscaping and successfully designed green spaces.”

Matthew Wilson, presenter of Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time and Channel 4’s The Landscape Man, as well as managing director of Clifton Nurseries, said he was delighted to provide the plants and trees for Mr Shea’s garden.

Mr Wilson added: “I’ve been going to Chelsea Flower Show for 20 years, and I love it, but at the same time there is a need for something a bit edgier and different and more challenging.

“For younger designers like Dan, it is really difficult to get anything off the ground, and if you are going to back something, choose someone who is doing something different and needs some help.

“I like Chelsea, but for a lot of people it means exclusive, and not exclusive in a good way. It prevents people from feeling involved. People feel Chelsea is a bit too posh for them.

“It is not a place for children. One of the great things about the Fringe is that you can bring your kids.”

The majority of the 77 gardens and events are taking place in London, but the festival director, Tim Richardson, hopes to broaden the festival for the second Fringe in 2013.

Read more about the Oranges and Lemons Garden and the broader festival at chelseafringe.com

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By DeAnn Owens,

Contributing Writer

8:37 PM Friday, May 18, 2012

To add a touch of life indoors, we bring in gifts from Mother Nature. Houseplants, fresh-cut flowers and herb gardens create a sense of calm and provide a punch of color, fragrance and flavor. The reverse works, too: Nonliving accessories can add life outdoors.

By incorporating the elements of fire, water and stone, nonliving accessories such as fire pits, fountains and stone-carved statues can add interest to a garden and liven up the space.

We asked local gardening and landscape pros to share with us the top trends they are seeing in outdoor living.

Fire pits

“The hottest trend in the industry right now is the additions of fire pits to outdoor living areas,” said Patrick Flanagan, landscape manager and designer at Knollwood Garden and Landscaping Center in Beavercreek. “They are tough to beat for adding long-term interest and lots of great memories. If you are looking to install a new patio area, you can easily incorporate a more permanent fire pit into it with a seating wall, or you can use a more mobile one that can be moved to different sections of the outdoor living space.”

“Fire pits can be either natural gas, propane or my favorite, wood burning,” said Jeff Dorton, landscape designer and salesman at Berns Garden Center and Landscaping in Middletown and Beavercreek.

Water features

To upgrade your garden from a simple outdoor space to a rejuvenating oasis, just add water.

“Fountains have gained in popularity because the flowing or trickling water provides serenity and gentle motion to the garden setting and an escape from reality,” said Marybeth Taggart, advertising manager for Grandma’s Gardens and Landscape in Waynseville. “After a hard day at work or just to wind down after a stressful day, a visit to a lush garden with a relaxing fountain is like having a spa in your own backyard.”

With so many options, adding a water feature to a garden depends on your personal style, available garden space and desired level of upkeep.

“Water features run the spectrum from simple concrete fountains all the way to elaborate ponds with waterfalls,” Dorton said.

Knowing your water feature’s power source will narrow down the selection.

“When choosing a fountain, think about where your electrical source is. It is not safe to have fountains hooked up to extension cords where the connections are exposed to the weather,” said Kathy Matousch, manager at Siebenthaler’s in Centerville.

Durability is also important.

“The resin fountains are nice and most of the time have a good price point,” said Jacob Stockslagers of Stockslager’s Greenhouse and Garden Center in New Lebanon.

“But concrete fountains will last much longer than the resin ones.”

Boulders

To add some architectural interest, get ready to rock.

“Adding boulders to your landscaping is a great way to give it a natural structure. Boulders can be a single accent, or they can be installed as a natural-looking retaining wall complete with plant pockets,” Dorton said.

“Flagstone walkways through your gardens are also a very nice addition. They are an attractive way to take up some space if you are looking to cut down a little on your planting areas, too,” Flanagan said.

Stone is also a great option for long-lasting outdoor furniture.

“Much of our best selling garden furniture and garden art is made of granite.

“Natural cuts of stone for tabletops and bench tops and cut boulders for stools and bench legs are very popular as the finishing touch for the landscape,” Taggart said.

Garden art

Incorporating garden art is another way to personalize your outdoor space.

“Pot stickers, statuary, wind chimes, bottle trees, shepherd’s hooks, small decorative fencing, rain gauges, garden markers to identify plants or with inspirational sayings, baker’s racks for the patio. There are gorgeous pictures for patio walls that are weather resistant and metal art for the privacy fence.

“All of these fall into the category of garden art,” Matousch said.

“Concentrate on one or two particular areas in the yard where you would like to place an item amongst the plants … something that is whimsical, or colorful or inspirational or just fun.”

In 2005, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church completed construction on a new education and administration building. One of the benefits of the new building was the creation of a pleasant courtyard. But until recently, the potential of that space was never realized.

The original gothic architecture of St. Paul’s, 520 Summit St., was created by Ralph Adams Cram of the Cram and Ferguson architectural firm.

Cram, from Boston, was considered to be the leading church architect in the country when the church was built in 1928-29. He is credited with many magnificent structures, among them The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York.

Inside St. Paul’s, there are frescoes created by artist Roger Nelson and his team. Bret Dolbear of Creekstone Farms Woodworking created the wainscoting in the Calhoun Fellowship room from wood harvested from oak trees on the hill below.

There are stained-glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and more recently by designer Rowan LeCompte, whose windows are in the Washington National Cathedral, and Mary Clerkin Higgins, a renowned stained-glass artist.

This tradition of craftsmanship extends to the gardens as well. And the new construction presented a unique cloistered area.

Janice Lewis and Nancy Spencer, members of the ecclesiastical arts committee, puzzled over the use of that space.

They knew they wanted to add garden space and were inspired by the acquisition of a jardinière, a large, gothic-style planter that resembles a baptismal font.

They envisioned the garden being centered on this feature, perhaps using it as a fountain. But it was not until one of the clergy identified the space as a perfect spot for a chapel that the garden focal point fell into place.

Lewis is a landscape architect and Spencer a renowned gardener. Lewis created a garden plan around an ironwork and stone altar she designed. Blacksmiths Frank Naples and Tim Crumley of AM Welding created the altar, which is permeated with Christian symbology. Three gothic window shapes carry the weight of the design. These echo windows found elsewhere in the historic church as well as represent the holy trinity. Three quatrefoils, three crosses and three doves further the theme in the ironwork that also has been pulled and twisted by hand. Quatrefoils are a common design element in gothic architecture, a stylized quartered leaf.

The descending doves are meant to represent the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost, while leaves on ascending vines symbolize the tongues of fire. Twelve scrolls at the base of the gothic windows represent the apostles. The altar is topped with a huge slab of stone.

The altar is crowned with a metalwork medallion that hangs above it on the wall of the church. The medallion, a gift from Spencer, has been embellished with sunbursts by the blacksmiths.

It is difficult to believe that the site – the Garden Chapel – has not always been the garden it is today. It fits naturally within the context of its surroundings.

New Garden Landscaping removed concrete from the area and also did the tree and shrub installation. Jeff Messick, the stonemason, also did the original grading. The Tennessee crab orchard stone is a beautiful tan color shot with milk-chocolate veining.

The large slabs of stone balance nicely with the weighty building and meld with the surrounding stone walls. Lewis said the central area of the lawn will accommodate 35 to 45 people for services. The area will be ideal for small weddings and memorials. Stone walls create planting beds and offer additional seating.

But the site was not without its difficulties, chief among them limited access.

To terrace the site, the slope had to be dug out and then leveled leaving the soil line far below its original point.

Bare foundation showed on the walls, and downspouts had to be extended because they now abruptly ended in the middle of the wall.

“We hauled a mineral clay out from behind the walls of the planting beds in wheelbarrows. One person was pulling and another pushing,” Lewis said.

She had the help of their sexton, John Lewis, a bodybuilder and former Wake Forest football player, for much of the heavy lifting. All material, from stone, to trees, to lawnmowers, had to be carried down steps to reach the garden. It took six men to carry the stone that caps the altar.

“It’s also about 5 to 10 degrees warmer down here,” Lewis said.

The plantings are discreet. There are multiple varieties of boxwood, including a dwarf edging kind called Morris Midget.

“We used Green Mountain and green beauty boxwood because they are hardier than English box,” Spencer said.

A dwarf Japanese dissectum maple will eventually drape over and soften one corner of the stone wall. Bloodgood Japanese maple and kousa dogwood occupy the corners. There is an embellishment of annuals throughout. Lewis and Spencer are the gardeners on the site.

“We wanted to use things that are relatively low-maintenance since we are the ones doing it. We would like to recruit some more help,” Lewis said.

“We would like the gardens surrounding the church to be as beautiful as the inside,” said Spencer, noting that the West End community enjoys using the grounds and they encourage responsible neighborly use.

“After 9/11, people flocked to the gardens at St. John the Divine in New York.”

These gardens are sources of refuge and contemplation; they extend the sacred beyond the church walls and into the world.

By 

Jim Weiker

The Columbus Dispatch

Friday May 18, 2012 5:38 AM

For 23 years, Tom McNutt has taught central Ohioans how to pick, plant and prune their
gardens.

Along the way, he has donned wigs, “interviewed” bumblebees and waded into a fishing pond
dressed as Huck Finn.

As the gardening expert for WCMH-TV (Channel 4), McNutt has served as one of the last quirky
amateurs of central Ohio broadcasting — hired for his expertise in horticulture, not
journalism.

His folksy habits of clowning around, telling corny jokes and wearing costumes mark a throwback
to an earlier era of broadcasting.

On Saturday morning, that era will end when McNutt delivers his final gardening segment for the
station.

He’ll go out on top: His show is No. 1 in its time slot.

McNutt was preparing to retire as chairman of the Franklin County Cooperative Extension Service
at the end of 1988 when Channel 4 officials asked whether he was interested in a regular gardening
segment.

The job he figured he’d do for “a year or two” has made him a central Ohio gardening
institution.

“You need to reach people before you teach them,” said McNutt, 78. “Sometimes, maybe we get
carried away to draw attention.”

Even though he had no broadcasting education, McNutt wasn’t a stranger to the studio: In his
roles as a 4-H agent, cooperative-extension chairman and Franklin County Fair spokesman, he had
been interviewed regularly by news outlets.

In his first few years at Channel 4, he worked from the studio but found the routine
stifling.

“I said, ‘Get me a live truck and let me go out,’  ” he recalled. “The station manager said, ‘I’l
l give you a month to make it work.’ That month never ended.”

McNutt hit his stride at gardens, nurseries and farms, where his down-home delivery fit in.

“Tom really shone when he was out of studio — when he was in his natural element, if you will,”
said Ike Walker, director of digital journalism at Channel 4. “Tom has that everyman quality that I
think people identify with and have identified with for years.”

McNutt’s show soon settled into a pattern: three or four short segments during the station’s
Saturday news show from 8 to 9 a.m. The segments include demonstrations, interviews, tips and
questions from viewers.

He shot his segments in dozens of area locations but tended to return to a handful of favorites:
Cedarbrook Landscaping Garden Center in Shawnee Hills, deMonye’s Greenhouse in Columbus and
Seely’s Landscape Nursery in Hilliard.

“He and I always have a lot of fun together,” said Cedarbrook owner Larry Burchfield, who has
known McNutt since Burchfield was a 14-year-old 4-H’er.

“When we get on TV together, something usually ends up happening.”

In his final segment at Cedarbrook, McNutt wore three wigs, including one in a woman’s hairstyle
and another in an Afro, during skits depicting his past, present and future “ghosts.”

Burchfield and others are quick to add that behind McNutt’s corn-pone silliness lies a thorough
knowledge of horticulture, courtesy of growing up on a farm and earning bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in agriculture from Ohio State University.

“Don’t let him fool you: He knows his stuff,” said Jerry Killilea Sr., owner of deMonye’s. “He
looks like a country boy, but he’s sharper than you think.”

McNutt’s contribution to horticulture has landed him in the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame, the
4-H Ohio Hall of Fame and the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

Killilea, Burchfield and others have a simple explanation for McNutt’s longevity.

“What you see is what he is; that’s exactly the way he is,” Burchfield said. “There’s nothing
hidden.”

The unvarnished presentation has been gradually replaced by a more polished professionalism.

“In local television, in bygone days, you wanted someone who could talk the talk and communicate
well, of course,” said Tom Wiebell, a veteran Columbus radio and TV broadcaster who has worked with
McNutt.“But you were more interested in someone who had some homeyness about them, that sort of
personality that carries trust — which Tom has.

“He may be, in a sense, the last of an era in the way he works.”

On a few occasions, McNutt’s carefree approach has landed him in hot water at the station — as
when he joked that a female reporter from Indiana was a “Hooter” instead of a Hoosier and when he
accidentally let some cockroaches loose in the studio.

“I think newspeople take themselves too seriously,” he said. “It comes off as phony. People just
want you to be yourself.”

McNutt has done more than 1,000 broadcasts but says two annual shows at his Hilliard home have
long been the most popular: a Christmas segment featuring decorations by Joan, his wife of 54
years; and a spring show in his lush backyard, where he will shoot his final segment.

McNutt had been considering retirement for a few years, but an incident in April hastened his
departure. He was preparing to do a show on recycling when he stumbled on pavement and had to be
rushed to the hospital, forcing him to miss the segment.

Since doctors diagnosed the muscle disease inclusion body myositis 13 years ago, McNutt has
slowly lost strength in his legs. He relied on a cane, then a walker and now a motorized scooter or
a walker on wheels.

“I’m going to ride off into the sunset on my scooter,” he said during the show last weekend in
announcing his departure.

Despite his health problems, McNutt doesn’t intend to settle into an easy chair with his
favorite shows (Buckeye sports and
The Young and the Restless).

He plans to spend more time with his three children and four grandchildren. He also expects to
continue his consulting work and is considering writing another book like his
Tom’s (Green) Thumb.

Longtime central Ohio landscaper Tom Wood, owner of Wood Landscape Services in Hilliard, will
take over for McNutt.

Wood, who at 55 is the age McNutt was when he started the show, has broadcasting experience from
an earlier career making videos and commercials. Still, he doesn’t plan to radically change McNutt’s
formula.

“If you go into a new situation, you always want to follow someone who screwed up,” Wood said. “
Here, I am following someone who’s done it for 23 years and has it down to a science.”

jweiker@dispatch.com

More edible landscape photos

Vancouver landscape architect Senga Lindsay’s debut gardening book Edible Landscaping: Urban Food Gardens That Look Great features scores of edible garden design ideas, from vertical herb walls to colourful and beautifully patterned vegetable patches.

A launch for the book takes place at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 9, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event features a presentation on edible garden design over beverages and snacks. For more information about this free event or to reserve a signed copy of the book, please call Books to Cooks at 604-688-6755.

Senga Lindsay will sign copies of her book and host presentations on edible garden design featuring Edible Landscaping, at Garden Works (705 West Third Street, North Vancouver) on Sunday, June 10 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, at Save-On-Foods Park Tilford (333 Brooksbank Avenue, North Vancouver) on Saturday, June 16 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm and at Whole Foods Market (925 Main Street, West Vancouver) on Monday, June 25 at 6:30 pm. For more information about these free events, please visit www.harbourpublishing.com.

nlanthier@vancouversun.com

Oxford, United Kingdom, May 17, 2012 –(PR.com)– Critically Acclaimed Gardening Greats: John Brookes (MBE), Noel Kingsbury, Michael King, Launch New Online Courses with MyGardenSchool to Propagate Gardening Excellence Globally.

Perhaps the most influential living landscape designer of our time, John Brookes MBE, is launching two new online garden design courses with the world’s first virtual gardening school – MyGardenSchool. The new gardening courses – “Design Your Own Small Garden” and “Design Your Own Large Garden” – are designed to enable enthusiasts across the globe to create their own designer gardens under John Brookes’ careful guidance. Both design courses start in May to coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show (and then run the first Saturday of every month). They are bookable now via the MyGardenSchool website. Brookes’ two new courses: enable students, wherever they live in the world, to produce their own garden designs, with the help of expert tuition, and a little of the John Brookes magic. Brookes’ existing MyGardenSchool garden design course has proven to be a great success over the last year with both aspiring garden designers and enthusiastic amateurs alike.

Brookes explained “The ‘virtual’ teaching method I use at MyGardenSchool simply works. I enjoy it because it gives me an exciting and eclectic classroom, with students from as far afield as the US, Japan, Croatia and Holland. Students love it because they can benefit from my personal tuition, and personalised garden plans, without the inconvenience, and cost (to both themselves and the planet) of having to travel to get them. MyGardenSchool enables me to teach, and for students to learn, from the comfort of our own homes. Of course this also enables us to keep costs down, which means the students get incredible value for money, and come away with a designer garden at the end of their courses, which will hopefully give them pleasure for years to come.”

Joining Brookes in launching new MyGardenSchool courses are Michael King and Noel Kingsbury. Both acclaimed gardening authors, they have collaborated with Dutch designer and plantsman Piet Oudolf, on seminal planting design books. Michael King has spent the last twenty years living in the Netherlands where he writes, designs and gardens. His new MyGardenSchool course on Designing with Grasses will be available in late Spring/Early summer.

Best known for his ecological or naturalistic approach to planting design, Noel Kingsbury has written some 20 books on various aspects of plants and will be launching a course on Perennial Planting in the Late Summer/Autumn. International writer, and acclaimed plantsman and lecturer, Noel Kingsbury has developed this online gardening course to teach you new ways of planting design with perennials. 
Noel takes you through a broad look at a variety of contemporary approaches to using perennials, with a particular focus on naturalistic approaches. The course provides a particularly strong theoretical basis, but with plenty of plant variety tables provided for helping you choose plants.

Noel is a great advocate of a new way of using perennials that works with – rather than against – nature. On the course, Noel explores how to make planting schemes designed to suit the existing condition of your own garden, covering a wide range of temperate zone climates; for example if your soil is poor and fast draining, he will guide you through the basic principles of choosing plants which not only survive but flourish in these conditions.

Noel has made a particular study of contemporary European planting styles, and has collaborated on several books with leading designer Piet Oudolf, so he is in the best position possible to outline how to make successful planting designs which combine structure, a long season of interest, support for bio-diversity and sustainability – reducing or eliminating irrigation and minimizing maintenance. Noel Kingsbury shows how it’s done from first principles. A one off opportunity to get personal tuition from a world expert in perennial planting.

This means your garden can now be touched by the design-hands of the greatest landscape designers or horticultural writers of our time – without the costs associated with meeting them in person.

Elspeth Briscoe, Founder of MyGardenSchool added: “We’re launching the new John Brookes design courses to co-incide with The Chelsea Flower Show. Chelsea inspires a global audience to turn its attention to its own outside space, but sometimes people need that extra guidance to see it through the design and implementation phase. We’re also very excited to have Noel Kingsbury and Michael King teaching with us – imagine having their advice on your own garden, without even having to leave home to get it.”

She added: “MyGardenSchool aims to provide the best authors and designers in the gardening industry with a global stage on which to share their knowledge – and gardening enthusiasts, wherever they live, with a place to go to get first class teaching in their homes. We are the facilitators, fulfilling a hunger for high quality gardening expertise online in the global market.”

About John Brookes, MBE.
John Brookes MBE FSGD has designed and built well over 1000 gardens during a career spanning 50 years. His extensive portfolio includes traditional English gardens both formal and informal, modern, minimalist, Islamic and wild gardens. He has won numerous awards throughout his career including 4 Gold medals at Chelsea, and recently the Garden Media Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. John is also a successful and prolific author, having written 24 best-selling books, and countless articles for newspapers and magazines. He lectures on garden design in UK and overseas and runs a design school in Argentina.

About Michael King
Michael’s passion for gardens and plants started in his teens and lead to a university degree in botany and microbiology in Great Britain. A career in finance, lead to the position of Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the world famous Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.. For the past twenty years Michael has lived in the Netherlands were he, writes, designs and gardens. His first two books, written jointly with Piet Oudolf, revealed how to use ornamental grasses and other perennials in the new naturalistic gardens. In all Michael’s books the emphasis is on how to use plants to best effect in a garden’s design.

About Noel Kingsbury
Noel is internationally known as a writer – about plants, gardens and the environment. He teaches and lectures, and is also a garden/planting designer and horticultural consultant. Best-known for his promotion of what is broadly called an ecological or naturalistic approach to planting design, Noel’s written some 20 books on various aspects of plants and gardens, two of them in collaboration with Dutch designer and plantsman Piet Oudolf. Over the years Noel has written for Gardens Illustrated, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Garden, Hortus and many other publications.

About MyGardenSchool
MyGardenSchool is the world’s first online gardening school where students can learn from gardening experts about how to do absolutely everything in the garden from keeping bees or hens, landscaping, design, growing vegetables and herbs, building treehouses or growing the perfect roses. And everything in between. All of our tutors are outstanding in their field (and gardens), being accomplished gardeners and acclaimed gardening writers. Gardening courses are four weeks long, and video tutorials are delivered weekly, together with course notes and assignments assessed by your tutor. You also get to chat to your tutor online, as well as your classmates, in the “virtual classroom.” MyGardenSchool will teach you everything about gardening – virtually. But don’t take our word for it – check out our course pages here: (http://www.my-garden-school.com/courses/)