Working Garden Visit Series - #5 Fall in Skaneateles, Cortland & Ithaca

Last of the FLNPS  native garden visits. Unlike traditional Open Garden Days, these gardens are not all picture perfect, nor are they 100% native. They are works in progress, some new, some older, some more formal, some restored meadows. They are gardens whose creators are trying to incorporate lots of native plants within their own esthetic. Most will be self-guided; a couple will have posted tour times. Be sure to check the website priot to departure for details: Sept 9.

September 9: Gardens open 10am-3pm - ALL self guided, NOTE: Skaneateles has an unanticipated limit on parking SCHEDULE YOUR VISIT HERE sign up link.

Randy & Jo Anne Ross, Cortland, NY 13045:  Starting in 2012 with the back 2/3 acre of our suburban yard that was nothing but Black Cherry trees and rocks, you can see what several beds and a hedgerow of native understory plants look like after a decade of growth.  The many shrubs and small trees include Spicebush, Hazelnut, Witch Hazel, Bladdernut, Serviceberry, Nannyberry, Chokeberry, Chokecherry, Sweetshrub, Elderberry, and more, and provide privacy, wildlife habitat, and beauty. Self guided. Photos, plant list, and garden schematics available here.

Janice Wiles,  Skaneateles NY 13152. This is both a working vegetable/herb farm and a native plant nursery (Go Native! Perennials/GNP). The nursery has 3 germination hoop houses/shade houses, 1 small hoop house for water loving plants and one large shade house for potted plants for sale.  Established (and establishing) "founders plots" – (mixed local/regional genotype) field-grown herbaceous plants and grasses for seed, and some for sale as mature plants.  GNP has two 2-year-old meadows and one 6-month-old meadow and will be seeding a shade meadow this spring.  They will also be seeding a patch for grasses to demonstrate (if it works) "no mow".  Be sure to visit the demonstration of  a more structured garden next to one of the meadows to show "wild" next to "tame"; sit and watch the goldfinches feeding in the meadow. Self-Guided. 

Mary Squyres, Ithaca, NY 14850: Mary strives to have something blooming throughout the season, so there is always something to see.  Her garden and yard are a congenial mix of lots of natives for habitat and beauty, plus a lot of traditional and unusual perennials , shrubs and trees from her participation in the Rock Garden Society and as a Master Gardener. Her property includes extensive garden beds around the log house and lawn, as well as a “wildish” area undergoing succession.  Here she has kept out the invasives and planted native trees and shrubs amongst the oaks, maples and hickories.  Visit again in fall for a totally different effect.  Self-guided.