A Shout Out to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio & Pennsy Folks

We are very happy that our son got accepted to grad school at University of Chicago and we're planning a road trip sometime in the Spring to visit him. My husband has agreed that if we stop at all the major league baseball parks along the way to and in Chicago, we'll stop at native nurseries, botanical gardens, parks, etc. on the way back.--everybody's happy.

I'm looking for suggestions on where to stop. We'll be in Chicago for several days so I'm also looking for "must see stuff" there.

We know where the ballparks are but would like recommendations on the rest.

Thanks,
Sherry

Chicago Botanical Gardens and The Morton Arboretum leap immediately to mind in the Chicago area. The Indianapolis Art Museum has a wonderful and large Olmstead designed garden. Absolutley wonderful. I'm told one cannot miss Baker's Acres nursery in the Columbus, Ohio area. East of Columbus is The Dawes Arboretum, which is wonderful. Just east of that in Zanesville, Ohio, is the Mission Oaks garden, which is spectacular and just plain cool as a concept. A little south and east of there somewhere near Athens, Ohio is a place called The Glasshouse Works. It is supposed to be a great nursery, although I've never been there. If you can come as far south as Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens is first class, both as a zoo and as a garden. Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati is an excellent old and established arboretum, although not particularly learner-friendly. Not enough things are labeled and the maps to significant collections are spare and confusing.

Scott

Hey, thanks, Decumbent. This is exact what I was looking for and I'll check them out on the net. We may detour to Cincinnati to visit friends in that area and would love to check out the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

If you are able to, definitely visit the gardens at the B'hai temple in Winnetka, north of Chicago. Very beautiful. Very peaceful.

If you head down to Cinci, you might be able to route yourself though my area too (near Springfield, Illinois) -- come and walk where Lincoln walked!

Guy S.

WH, I'll check out B'hai temple on the net. I'm all for beautiful and peaceful.

Guy, I would love to walk where Lincoln walked! And I'd love to visit the Keebler Elf's Arboretum.

These are some native plant nurseries you might want to consider-
*Gerard & Greene 26225 S. Woodlawn Ave., Crete, IL 60417 (708)672-1201
Prairie Earth Nursery, RR 1 Box 151, Bradford, IL 61421 (309)897-9911
The Natural Garden, Inc., 38w443 Highway 64, St. Charles, IL 60175; 630-584-0150
*Possibility Place Nursery, 7548 West Monee-Manhattan Rd, Monee, IL 60449 (708)534-3988
Wilson Seed Farms, 10872 1400 E. Street, Tiskilwa, IL 61368 (815)878-8572
*The Planters Palette, 28 W. 571 Roosevelt Road, Winfield, IL 60190 (630)293-1040
The Growing Place, 25W471 Plank Rd, Naperville, IL 60563 (630)355-4000
*Native Acres, 6583 Owen Center Road, Rockford, IL 61101 (815)962-1875
Shemin Nurseries, 4N755 Lombard Rd, Addison, IL 60101 (630)773-8090
Genesis Nursery , 23200 Hurd Rd, Tampico, IL 61283 (815)438-2220
*H. E. Nursery 1200 Old Rt. 66, North Litchfield, IL 61056 (217)324-6191
Blazing Star, Inc., 2107 Edgewood Dr, Woodstock , IL 60098 (815)338-4716
The Wildflower Source, Inc, 8805 Kemman Road, Hebron, IL , 60034, (815)648-4397
Bluestem Prairie Nursery, 13197 E. 13th Rd., Hillsboro, IL 62049 (217)532-6344
Genesis Nursery, Inc., 23200 Hurd Rd., Tampico, IL 61283 (815)438-2220

This was one of my favorites but nobody is picking up the phone for months-
Enders Greenhouse, 104 Enders Dr, Cherry Valley, IL 61016 (815) 332-5255

Here are a few a little bit north of Chicago into Wisconsin-
Northwind Perennial Farms, 7047 Hospital Road Burlington, WI 53105 (262) 248-8229
Prairie Nursery P.O. Box 306 Westfield, WI 53964 (800) 476-9453
Taylor Creek Nursery, 17921 Smith Rd. Brodhead, WI 53520
Dragonfly Gardens, PO Box 192, Amery, WI 54001 (715) 268-6155
Prairie Ridge Nursery, 9738 Overland Rd Mt. Horeb, WI 53572 (608) 437-5245
Agrecol Corp, 2918 Agriculture Dr., Madison, WI 53718 (608)226.2544
Prairie Future Seed, W255 N9286 Tomahawk Dr., Menomonee Falls, WI 53052 (262) 820-0221
Bluestem Farm, S5920 Lehman Rd., Baraboo, WI 53913
Hild & Associates, 326 Glover Rd., S. River Falls, WI 54022 Orders: 800/790-9495
*Reeseville Ridge Nursery, 512 S. Main St., P.O. Box 171, Reeseville, WI 53579
Great Lakes Nursery 1002 Hamilton Street, Wausau, WI 54403. (715) 845-7752
ION Exchange, 1878 Old Mission Road, Harpers Ferry, IA 52146 (319) 535-7231

Nurseries that have an * in front of them are nurseries I am going to physically go to next spring. I have ordered from all of the above nurseries and would order from them all again.

Here's a website that might help you as you drive to Illinois-
http://www.plantnative.com/nd_idtoks.htm

A few I have bought from located in Indiana-
Munchkin Nursery and Gardens LLC, 323 Woodside Dr. N.W., Depauw, IN 47115-9039
(comment- not all natives but they do have nice plants)
JFNew Native Plant Nursery,128 Sunset Dr., Walkerton, IN 46574 (574)586-2412
Hensler Nursery, Inc., 5715 North 750, East Hamlet, IN 46532 (219)867-4192
Spence Restoration Nursery, Inc., 2220 E. Fuson Rd., Muncie, IN 47302 (765)286-7154

I'm sure I've missed some really good ones but I'm tired of typing.

If you're a fan of Bluestone Perennials, they're in Madison, OH which is a bit east of Cleveland. Most of their business is mailorder, but they do let people come to the nursery and shop sometimes, I would call and find out what their hours are. I wasn't much of a gardener yet when I lived in Ohio so unfortunately I don't have too many other suggestions!

Bluestone Perennials definitely has a quality product. Good suggestion as they're going to be coming through Ohio.

Equil--enders closed up. Check the website.

Bummer, I knew they were struggling so I made a conscientious effort to buy as much as my car would hold last year. She had very nice plants. Poor thing given she had just bought out the previous owners. Thanks for letting me know. I feel horrible. She was such a nice person and she really cared about the plants she sold.

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions.

E, you outdid yourself and that's saying something. Thank you so much.

It'll be fun planning this trip over the winter.

If I can have at my husband's credit card I can assure that you "ain't seen nothin yet" in the department of outdoing one's self. Tee he, let's go shopping this spring Fw87! We can leave your husband with my husband and shop till we drop!

Sounds like an excellent plan. I'm very adept at using a credit card myself.

It's a date! We'll leave our husbands to console each other while we have a little female bonding session. It will be just like shopping for shoes with a girlfriend when I was a teenager. One can never have too many!

What fun! Heck, I still like shoe shopping with a girlfriend, was I suppose to outgrow that?

I've got too many shoes. I admit it. I think I am what you would call "shoed out". I've never outgrown shopping for shoes but there comes a time where one runs out of space. I have arrived. I have not run out of space for plants though. I truly don't see the day where that will ever happen. I have been running out of time to get them all in the ground lately but that's merely a temporary situation.

Yea, I've got more than my share of shoes, too, but I saw your pink boots on another thread and started day dreaming about some cool boots.

Completely agree with you on plants. I can't seem to ever get enough. Speaking of getting them all in the ground, can some plants overwinter in their pots? I have a few shrubs that might not make it in the ground til the Spring. Is that risky? Would it be better to just plunk them in somewhere and then move them once their final destination is ready?

Oddly enough those boots were hand me downs from my girlfriend's teenager. I used to get good hand me down clothes from the kid but then she got into hip huggers and bell bottoms and (gasp) halters and midriffs. I told her to knock off all this trendy stuff and get back to basics so I could get hand me downs again and she just laughed. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. I still like those mint green dalmation boots that 4paws had. I tried to find those and couldn't. I would have added those to my collection in a heart beat- they're soooo me.

Story of my life... too many plants and too little time. I don't think it would be a good idea to try to overwinter them in their pots. If you have to, line em all up against your house and start shoveling in wood chips around them good and deep. The other possibility is to drag them all into your garage if it is unheated. Keep them barely damp over the winter but not moist and get them in the ground as soon as you can. Get a hold of Lucky and ask him what to do. That's who I usually run crying to when I screw up with eyes bigger than stomach syndrome.

Toledo Botanical Gardens, Toledo Museum of Art, Fifth Third Field (Ball Park - Detroit Tigers farm team - Toledo), Oak Openings Metropark, magnificent globally rare Oak Savannah habitat. Tony Packo's restuarant from MASH (on Toledo's east side) and the ferry to Put-In-Bay on Lake Erie.

I think we better stick with a "Boys of Trees & Shrubs" calendar. Get the visual on this...
an almost 50 year old woman rammed into a pair of hip hugging bell bottoms like a sausage wearing a halter top eating Thin Mints with dirty finger nails from playing in the mud. Scary, very scary and not exactly pin up material unless we're offering dart kits with the calendars.

Hey, some of us have seen some of you, and you shouldn't sell yourselves short. (Shorts maybe, but not short!) This calendar isn't for the local grease monkey's garage, it's for the potting shed where the garden guys hang!

Guy S.

There's something sexy about a woman weeding...especially in my garden.

Yeah, and carrying water buckets too . . .

Weeding AND carrying water buckets? Goodness gracious, I need to go take a cold shower.

Weeding and carrying water buckets, all while wearing our flared (aka bell bottoms) jeans and teeny tiny halter tops. With a pair of boots with stiletto heels. Only thing is, hair up or down?

Equilibrium, I am often reluctant to respond on this forum, because in my universe, some of you have way too much attitude, but when people respond to sincere requests for information, there isn't a better forum on this site. You are particularly nice - so now, trash me. By the way, I buy regularly from Gene Bush at Munchkin - I've never been disappointed. Hope you're having a great day.

California gals skip the top...

Well, I must concede. There truly is something sexy about anyone weeding in my garden. Now, who wants to come over and be sexy? Me and the other Xs will sit in lawn chairs supervising while watching the show... wearing our sexy boots of course. You know, stiletto heels do have their place. They're great for aerating the lawn. We Xs could take breaks to stretch our legs and walk around aerating my lawn to check out how the weeding is progressing. By gosh by golly I think we've got a game plan! Party at my house! We'll film on location and get a jump start on creating our "Boys of Trees & Shrubs" calendar.

peony, peony, peony! Too much attitude? Say it ain't so! Not us over here in T & S! It just can't be! No no no, I don't believe you! Seriously, I take it by now you've figured out most everyone's bark is worse than their nibble. Aside from that, everyone who knows Gene Bush loves him. I don't know if you are aware of this but he contributes a tremendous amount to his community by sharing his time and talent and he is one of the most knowledgeable speakers on native plant communities out there. He's a real sweetie so you have good taste in nurseries. Now about being trashed, how would you propose we go about trashing someone who has such nice taste in nurseries? Are we talking the old tried and true 20 cyber whips with a wet noodle or did you have something else in mind?

I have a question for you since your user name is peony. Why did my white peony start blooming pink? It was a division of another peony bush that is still here on the property and that bush is blooming pure white but the clone isn't. I don't mind the pink but it's been a curiosity to me for a few years. Incidentally, they are planted about 10' apart and the soil is the same as is the fertilizer I use and just about everything else. I am not having an out of body experience either. I have photos of the original plant before I divided it about 3 years ago. It was white. The first year the division bloomed it bloomed white. Last year and this year it is blooming pink. Not a pale pink but a true pink.

Baseball shmaseball...Y gardeners are the true boys of summer. Now there's the name for your calendar (boys of trees & shrubs might not stir the masses).

BTW, Terry, wearing of stilettos while carrying water buckets wouldn't be allowed. We wouldn't want you to roll your ankle and take you off task.

Ok ok, we won't wear the stilettos. Wouldn't want to have us off task. Bob, you wear the stilettos. The ground must be aerated and you have to admit wearing stilettos at the same time one weeds would be killing two birds with one stone.

I grew up in southern Indiana - Gene and I have a mutual friend who still lives in that area, I also like helebores, and he is very knowledgeable. About Peonies - In Indiana they grow like weeds because they get the necessary chilling hours. I love them, but in Central Alabama I offer up a prayer when I get enough blooms to talk about. I have to plant the eyes at ground level and pray for chilling temperatures during our short winters. I'll have to research the color thing. Plants often do interesting things for us. Be thankful you get the chilling hours - we do however, have crape myrtle that will knock your socks off this time of the year.

Peony- Thanks for any help you may be able to offer as to why my plant changed color on me. That's been bugging me for a few years.

Twisting ankles wearing stiletto's? Surely you jest. Only novices twist their ankles. Trust me, I can walk carrying buckets of water all the while wearing stiletto's.

And, in inclement weather they function like cleets on ice. While the Y goes down trying to open a door for us on a sheet of ice, we're still standing.