I recently made another of my local 'field trips' to Inniswood Metro Gardens in Westerville, Ohio (in a Columbus suburb,) in that I'm interested in what herbs grow well in my eco-region.
At the parking lot, visitors are welcomed with a little free library that includes Ohio parks and recreation flyers and field guides.
Many herbs are non-natives here, but they're still an important part of my PDC final design and part of my day to day gardening and harvesting (sometimes seeds) on my site. There are times when I find myself visiting my herb garden even more often than my potager veg garden.
I've been a member of the Herb Society of America and was interested in visiting one of their state demonstration gardens. I look forward to visiting the national herb garden at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. eventually as well.
Inniswood's herb garden includes a slat roofed pergola that faces a small fountain and an 'herb cottage' that features an exhibit that changes from time to time, our visit included a focus on the humble dandelion. There were different areas, a scent, a medicinal, and a culinary focus to the herb gardens.
As one of my "hands on" activities with the PDC, I built a permaculture herb spiral just outside my back door as part of gaining an understanding of plants, herbs in particular, and their light and moisture requirements. It makes a good study in Beth Chatto's concept of "right plant, right place". Or microclimates as we would map it. I understand why many permaculture folks consider it a good way to introduce people to the requirements plants have.
Inniswood had a number of other areas of interest, particularly the native prairie garden, the fernery, and the "Frog Talk Walk" boardwalk out across a wetland. I'm trying to incorporate many native and keystone plant species into my design, and by happenstance, I was already developing a woodland Fernery as a shady entry to the back garden, so their native ferns were wonderful to see in context and a great way to introduce my partner to some of what I want to do with our homesite.
We also got to visit a resident juvenile snapping turtle, basking as we wandered by,
Part of finding inspiration is learning what's already working for others in your region and learning from them. It being summer here in the Northern hemisphere, it's a great time to get out there and find what local resources you have at hand.
