The Erie Basin Marina's Experimental Flower Gardens

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Jul 24th 2007, 8:24am By queenseyes

When you think of the Garden Walk, do you think of the Erie Basin Marina? Not many people do because the location was only added to the event’s roster last year. Yesterday morning there was a group of gardeners busy working on the final touches along the marina’s roadway. The crew is excited to be able to show off many of the latest plantings provided by the Ball Seed Company (the largest seed company in the world). These gardens are literally a year or two ahead of their time... the garden varieties have not even been introduced to the commercial public. Now that's pretty special.

Stan Swisher, Superintendent of Grounds, explains all about the trial gardens of the east in this video. And Ann-Marie McGrath, Horticultural Staff, gives us a tour of some of the more unusual garden features. Until her tour I had no idea that there was a hidden water-feature near The Hatch Restaurant. She also let on about the Field Day for the growers. That takes place on the morning of Friday, August 3rd, and it’s the day when thousands of growers from the northeast arrive to see the 2008/2009 planting varieties in person.

Did you know that the colorful flowers grow in one of the Martin Luther King greenhouses for up to four weeks? Then they’re brought over to the Erie Basin Marina for planting – the Olmsted Parks Conservancy helped to arrange that deal.

Don’t miss the Erie Basin Marina’s flower show on Saturday and Sunday, July 28th and 29th. Click here for details on the Garden Walk.

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  1. sunnydayz

    0 ratings12345
    Jul 24th 2007, 08:49

    Very interesting.

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  2. eliz

    0 ratings12345
    Jul 24th 2007, 14:42

    I love the test gardens. I wish, however, that the plants they show made their way to local nurseries more often, because I can rarely find them—the following year or years. That's not Stan's fault though!

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