A Stroll Through the Garden: Rhododendrons and Schoepfle Garden
This past weekend I took my wife on a few garden walks in Birmingham, Ohio, and Strongsville, Ohio. The last time I was at Schoepfle Garden I did a lot of walking. To walk all around the park, you are looking at a minimum of 2 miles. As I have been getting stronger, I have been taking on longer distances. We walked and stopped and walked and sat on a bench a number of times. I knew that I had some exercise at the end. It was a good day. There was also a tram that we hopped on and enjoyed the tour.
I had another interesting question about planting our vegetables, flowers and shrubs in the ground by a number of people again this past week. One idea that I have tried to get across over the years is the importance of a good soil test. Soil tests will answer the question of how you should fertilize and care for the plants in your gardens. Without a journal to record the changes that you make in your garden — like fertilizers or other treatments — you are going to continue to face similar problems.
Schoepfle Garden is one of the great blessings to northern Ohio when it comes to gardens. When I interned while I was working on my landscaping construction and maintenance associates of science degree, I interned at Shoepfle Garden. The bottom line is that many things have changed since I worked there. If you want to enjoy the rhododendrons in bloom this year, you will have to make it there in the next two to three weeks. Sharon and I both enjoyed all the flowers we saw. There were many spectacular rhododendrons. I’m afraid we may have been just a little early for the best show. That is why I wanted to bring this column to you today.
If you find yourself taking a stroll through this garden, you will find a formal garden with all of its closely pruned hedges, a traditional type of rose garden that changed over the years, a shade garden that I remember mowing around more than once, fascinating trees with their offspring, a garden designed for children, a carousel, an unusual conifer collection, and a rhododendron collection. The exciting thing is that, if you enjoy gardens, plants and carousels, you will enjoy yourself at Schoepfle.
So far this is a rather disconnected column, right? To start the process of connecting this column, we need to start with the history of this garden.
Otto Schoepfle loved trees and plants and gardens. He chose to start a pine tree farm. As a matter of fact, you can still see some of these original Christmas tree farm plantings. Problem was that you would have to harvest the trees. I guess Schoepfle lost heart and could not harvest very many of the hundreds of Christmas trees he had planted on his 70-acre Christmas tree farm. So Schoepfle adapted. He saw that he had created an evergreen forest, which remained in a more substantial way while I was working in the gardens 20+ years ago. Rhododendrons and other plants that liked acidic soils found themselves growing on a hill that was a pine forest maybe. Schoepfle planted over 100 rhododendrons under these conifers. Don’t get me wrong, the evergreens can begin to change the soil as you get many generations of pine trees growing on the same spot. What I saw were pockets of these rhododendrons in trouble.
As with most evergreens, rhododendrons and pin oaks you encounter in soils that are sweet or basic, you will see plants under stress. If you see pin oaks on your way to Schoepfle Garden, you will see a condition called chlorosis or yellow leaves. When I was a landscape designer in North Ridgeville, I did not usually apply these acid-loving plants in garden designs without a clear soil test. Acid-loving plants will not do well in sweet base soil. You will have a regular battle to get the acid-loving plant to do well. Regular soil tests and a garden journal will reveal the truth to all that want to know the answer to the question, “What is wrong with my plant?”
Hope you have a great stroll through your garden and enjoy the balance of spring. If you see any challenges in your yard, please do not hesitate in dropping an e-mail to ericlarson546@yahoo.com. Thank you for your participation in our column.
Eric Larson of Jeromesville is a veteran landscaper and gardening enthusiast and a founding board member of the Ohio Chapter of Association of Professional Landscape Designers.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Rhododendrons and more at Schoepfle Garden in Lorain County
