About
About my garden
I’ve been online creating garden webpages since 1998 and gardening since forever
(creating my own gardens since 1974)
As someone who enjoys knowing the person behind the website, and, especially, who makes the garden, it seemed worthwhile to have yet another facet of my history- this time in the garden. 
You would think from the [previously-”Ilona’s Reflecting Pool” ] site’s title that I have a pool in my garden. Not so, although that is changing this year (I am excited! -new plans, new plants). I have always balanced the needs of small children with garden dream plans. I try to keep poisonous, but beautiful plants, such as Aconitum Napellus, out of the garden; and a pool, when children are under five, is always a worry. Time does march on and I am now ready for a water garden of humble dimensions.
My love of the garden stems back to my early childhood, and one might suppose further than that if the genes have anything to do with it. My maternal grandfather was a grand gardener; as many clergy often are. He did not have much ground around his small parsonage, but it was fully utilized within it’s boundaries in a richly compost laden vegetable garden with beautiful old fashioned roses rimming the tiny house. Yes, I well remember hot summer evenings with the job of picking off the horrid little Japanese beetles and putting them in a jar of kerosene. The deep imprint of the smell and look of the vegetable garden soil, which I helped by digging in the coffee grounds and vegetable peelings, is clear and vivid as any of Prousts memories.
My paternal grandmother raised beautiful florist flowers of iris and peonies, but it was my mothers garden that gave me most of my experiences. To this day she far outshines me in the production of quality vegetables and the abundance of self started roses. She has a cottage gardens medley of blossoms throughout her city garden which she alone cares for. Certain plants in the garden of my early years are outstanding in memory: crocus lining the walkway, Spirea Shibori with their tiny fur fluff of purple flowers, the strawberry shrub with its clove shaped scented flowers, fruit laden raspberries on the fence, and a magnificent stand of purple Siberian irises. Of course, there were so many other things, and many still influence my garden choices today. I suppose I am a somewhat nostalgic person.
I did not begin my own garden until much later when my husband and I purchased our own house, although I had a small garden plot in each of our rented houses before that. They consisted of a small square of ground for tomatoes, lettuce, and parsley, and some room for Zinnias and marigolds. Wherever I have lived, I left crocus, daffodil, and tulip bulbs behind me.
It was my previous, “the city” garden that saw my development as a gardener. I had great success with it and cultivated every inch. It had started with a huge sweet cherry in the back and the remnants of someones effort (maybe in the fifties) to create a white garden. In a 4×2 foot space an Annabelle hydrangea, white climbing rose, white peony were planted. White spireas were along the shady side of the house, and scruffy grass covered the remains. That was what I started with on a clay soil over shale which is common in Central Ohio. Under my hand, the front consisted of a mixed dooryard garden of evergreen and deciduous plants at the foundation of the house, an enclosure of a picket fence with bushes at the corners, a honey locust planted towards the street and a small rock garden of imported Lake Eries limestone rocks, the kind with all the interesting fissures and holes, surrounded with all sorts of miniature plantings and backed with a small holly. The backyard held a winding walk with a vegetable garden and play yard to the right and grassy area surrounded by the perennial beds and the back deck fronted with a raised bed and shaded with a Bradford pear. That garden is fairly gone now, since one does not chose the habits of the gardens next owners .
The size of a city garden was ideal for a beginner, I was able to organically improve the soil with gypsum, peat moss, packaged cow manure, and a meager compost bin. My country garden would laugh at such minuscule amounts! I did work out a system I still use of adding shovelfuls of compost to each planting hole when putting in new plants. Compost for me is a simple affair. An above ground holding area for plant and grass clippings, vegetable refuse from the kitchen, some of autumns leaves, and the carcasses of less noxious weeds. I describe my present garden in the garden pages of my journal. Stayed tuned for the developments, OK?
I am an ambitious gardener, far outstripping my abilities and finances when planning. Always optimistic for the NEXT season…this is a trait amongst gardeners; maybe that is why we congregate …we know our peculiarities and even revel in them!
About the page
Originally “Ilona’s Garden” was part of my “Ilona’s Reflecting Pool” site on geocities. It started out with the idea that I would write a small section on gardening experience; but it grew as more and more pages were added, until it became the largest part of the site. It was time to move to its own domain. As the pages, and my garden, have matured ( along with me, I might add!) they have come to the point where major changes need to be made. I retain the html pages that I have written, but most of the new ones will use the Word Press format.
I have seen lots of changes in the internet garden scene, most of them have been improvements in site design and serving up lots of great gardening tips for just about any garden situation. As the daunting task of writing about gardening has dawned on me I have reduced my scope to what I know: Central Ohio Gardening. Hope you enjoy the pages and the growth of this new part of my garden site. Please bookmark me! Press Ctrl + D
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