by Lois Rose

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to join Master Gardeners and others in an all day seminar at Secrest Arboretum, entitled “How Plants Mate”. Needless to say it attracted a good crowd.

We spent a lot of time indoors at the new tech- savvy center getting the low down on the intricacies of stamens and pistils and bracts and the myriad mechanisms of mating in the plant kingdom.  At the end we saw plant parts exposed under the microscope—imagine an eight -foot high pistil, glistening on the screen…a huge ovary—well you get the idea.

But even without the in depth explanations this was a beautiful day in the arboretum, where restorations after the tornado have been highly successful. 

This lovely space is only an hour and a half away, and is season by season full of a large variety of carefully curated shrubs, trees, perennials. Our hosts were the Curator, Jason Veil, and Ann Chanon, ANR educator in Lorain County and an authority on buckeyes.

I hope this little article will tempt you to take out your botany textbook and delve into the many wonders in your garden that are just below the surface.