Monroe County Master Gardener Association

Written by Jenny S.
photos Gail K.

Apprehensive about the weather report, we arrived at the Wildwood metropark
in coolest clothing and took care to stand in shade, but fortunately it was overcastwith a breeze in the morning and quite tolerable!


Although the former Stranahan manor house was closed in preparation for a wedding scheduled that day, our docents were also involved with the historic mansion and got permission for us to enter after all,
only going to the upstairs living area.

From there we had excellent views of the garden Shipman designed particularly
to be seen and enjoyed from that perspective (and it was cool inside!)

The acclaimed designer stayed in the house while planning the garden for the Stranahans and used the architecture of the house for inspiration.
(the dark arc at the far end of the above picture is this feature in the garden)
We learned some history of the house, heavily vandalized while abandoned before a massive community effort succeeded in the city purchasing the site for a park It is beautifully restored and an ambitious restoration of the original garden is underway.
Our hosts made the point that while Shipman’s garden frameworks were simple and elegant, the actual plantings were quite involved and difficult to maintain, so that few of her designs continued for many years after planting; very few in existence today. (A good lesson for us in planning public gardens.)

Some massive purple beeches are original and now provide more
shade than the rose garden should have, but it was quite lovely with
antique varieties and standards, enclosed in low box hedges.

Anemones and lilies were also enclosed in boxwood, with viburnum standards.
Rhododendrons and azaleas put on a show in spring, no doubt with bulbs, etc. but were simply a nice, healthy green in July. We missed the lilac and wisteria blossoms, too, and saw only the ragged end of the climbing hydrangea bloom.
There are a lot of interesting garden areas around the building that are not part of the personal and formal Shipman design, like a moss garden, hosta collections and both pollinator and wildflower patches with lots of good trails through the woods.
We liked seeing where Michele works to maintain small areas around large cottonwoods,

Thank you Michele B for arranging this tour—to our docents who were very knowledgeable and to Jenny for the script. Upon leaving Wildwood, we went on to the Toledo Botanical Gardens-where our very own Stella K. served as our docent. That portion of our tour will be next but a separate blog posting.
Thank you gk