We Monroe Master Gardeners are planning cutbacks to our demonstration gardens. Although there are some special plants and garden areas we have established over the years, there are just too many plants and areas for the current uses and the current level of workers. We are beginning to identifying what is most important to us and what we can better do without. Planning the changes can be a fun and educational project for us and to share with others.
Think how many people you have heard talk about cutting back on their gardens or landscape areas, or complain about not having the time or energy to maintain them as they wish them to look! Focusing on ways to reduce maintenance while preserving the best features of a developed landscape can provide some helpful lessons.
First we want to look at the overall landscape and establish priorities according to the educational purpose of our gardens.
Both due to its educational value and because some very talented and committed gardeners are willing to continue working in it, the children’s garden is at the top of our list to preserve. The herb ovals that comprised our first garden beds provide an attractive entrance to the children’s garden, but present some maintenance problems due to the growing competition from a mature sweet gum tree, so we need to plan changes there.
On the other hand there is the rain garden. Regardless of its history, we need to decide if it adds enough value to the gardens to justify the work it requires. It would be one of the easier areas to return to mowed grass. If we keep it, the highest maintenance plants are the two tallest ones, which we could remove. Then we would have to look at the other perennials that require cutting back during the season. Instead of taking a majority vote at the meeting, once we set priorities, we will just see if there is a team willing to undertake to 1. maintain it more or less as usual, 2. maintain it in reduced form, or 3. dig and discard or distribute the plants and rake it off to be reseeded to grass. In other words, it gets down to the workers making the final decisions on each garden area.
In order to give everyone time to think about each garden, we’ll put more articles like this in the blog before the next meeting. Be sure to attend, or to let someone know your interest and preferences in regard to this major project of our association.
The rain garden in summer. Tall Veroncastrum and goldenrod are out of proportion to the width of the bed.
Monroe County Master Gardener Association 
Thanks for posting about the gardens which provides information to think about before the next meeting. The size of the gardens should be in direct proportion to the educational value and the number of volunteer hours required for maintenance.
I agree with Jennie that our Children’s Garden is a jewel to be preserved, and I also agree that the entry to it should be revised to a lower maintenance planting. The rain garden while a great addition to a demonstration garden has its limitations and could be returned to lawn. I am willing to continue to maintain the Memorial Garden as it is fairly easy to keep looking decent, plus there are a few nice trees and shrubs there that might be difficult to relocate. As for other spaces I hope some folks will also be willing to do the maintenance required, but I really don’t know how they should be prioritized right now. Hope there will be some good discussions around this topic.