Customer Profile Spotlight

michael

bedford, oh

With a vision that began more than 20 years ago for a multi-level garden filled with hideaway paths and vignettes irrigated by a French drain, Mike has journaled the evolution of the gardens that surround his home in 360⁰, and there’s truly a story behind every plant! Mike has 81 unique varieties of Hosta, not to mention countless other perennials, trees, and shrubs! Someone who does not require perfection from his garden, Mike sees silver linings – including the time he recognized an opportunity to transform the 12-ft stump of his Ash tree (impacted by borers) into living architecture that now hosts Ivy and Climbing Hydrangea.

 

When/How he got his start

Michael was oriented to gardening at very early in life. He was only 4 years old in West Virginia when a neighbor taught him how to root roses from cuttings. Even as a toddler, he can remember dawdling around in the garden with his granddad, picking worms. Growing up, he really took a personal interest in the subject and began to, essentially, take ownership of the care of the family yard (every parent’s dream!). His parents encouraged his interest and helped with maintaining what he created for the family.

Why he gardens

Michael truly enjoys “the work” of gardening like deadheading and pruning. And he can’t help but enjoy doing things the old-fashioned hard way, too. He uses a battery-operated mower to cut his grass. He uses an old pair of 30-year-old sheep shearers to do his edging and shrub/hedge trimming! Even in the cold of winter, he spends time outside on dormant pruning projects to help maintain the size and shape of various deciduous trees and shrubs.

challenges & opportunities

Michael says that he was able to envision the scene of his garden from the time he signed on the dotted line to buy his home here in Northeast Ohio decades ago. However, he also recognized that deer browsing could potentially be an issue. And so the first element he created to protect his budding garden project, before anything else, was a beautiful and practical side gate to keep the beautiful creatures at a distance. From there, he got to work sculpting beds at varying elevations, and creating the French drain that outlines the beds to funnel rainwater where he wants it to flow. Today, he knows his garden like the back of his hand and can easily name every single species of every single plant, tree, and shrub, including his 81 varieties of Hosta!

achieving & maintaining success

Michael swears by a few products including Milorganite® for feeding his grass, Osmocote® for feeding his container plants, Jonathan Green Black Beauty™ grass seed for overseeding his lawn, and Holly-tone® and Triple Phosphate for feeding his rhododendrons and azaleas and keeping his mophead hydrangeas blooming a most beautiful blue.

Making lemonade from lemons

During the 2000s, give or take, a borer landed on the tablecloth as Michael was sitting below his favorite Ash Tree. Realizing the tree was infested and dying, he was forced to take it down. As it was being removed in pieces, Michael recognized an opportunity to use a safe, stable portion of the trunk to create a new, architectural moment in the garden. And so he requested that 12 feet of stump be left. From there, he planted a Climbing Hydrangea and also evergreen Ivy at the base of the dead tree, which quickly grew, climbed, and took over the visible stump in its entirety. Due to the symbiotic nature of these plants growing together with the stump, the vertical garden feature brings a sense of age and charm to the garden space – not to mention another opportunity to enjoy flowers!

on the social aspect:

“I like gardening because it gets you outside, meeting neighbors and creating more community with people.”

Join our new Facebook group page titled, “Petitti Garden Inspirations”. There, you’ll enjoy the opportunity to see how other Northeast Ohio gardeners and Petitti Garden Center customers are using their plants, and you can share your own gardening pictures to educate and inspire others, as well! On Facebook, simply search “Petitti Garden Inspirations” and click Join.

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