July 10-11, 2025 Cultivate'25 and GardenComm Mega Connect
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| Some of the tour group for GardenComm, day 1 |
Decades ago, I joined Garden Writers, now known as GardenComm, a group of garden writers and communicators who network, educate, and support one another in sharing the joys of gardening. AmericanHort's Cultivate '25 is a national trade show and educational event held in Columbus, Ohio, designed to support garden centers, growers, garden educators, and other professionals in the horticultural industry. This year, the organizations' annual meetings overlapped, and I was able to attend tours, events, educational classes, plant trials, and a trade show, taking advantage of opportunities by both groups.
I drove with my friend, Kathy Jentz, a garden podcaster, publisher, magazine editor, author, and fellow garden communicator. We stopped at Dawes Arboretum, a two-thousand-acre public garden in Newark, Ohio. Japanese gardens, sample vegetable gardens, beautiful trees, and perennial plantings were accessible and beautiful. Here are a few photos of the area.
The following morning, we got up early to view the Chadwick Arboretum on The Ohio State University campus. Trials of annuals and display gardens of perennials were outside the horticulture building, which we were able to photograph and judge for beauty and adaptability in a home garden.
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| Flower Trials |
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| New varieties are compared and judged for garden suitability |
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| Kathy Jentz |
We picked up Teri Spieght, award-winning author and an incredible presence in all her horticultural endeavors, and Natalie Carmolli, Proven Winners' Garden P R and Marketing Specialist, and went to the Governor's Residence, where we met other GardenComm members. We were shown several gardens that interpreted various areas in Ohio using primarily native plants. A cutting garden and medicinal garden were included in the Governor's landscape.
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| Tour organizers |
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| Some of our GardenComm members |
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| The cut flower and pollinator garden |
Our next stop was a private home where we saw the work of Columbus Foodscapes' Katie Carey. Later,
we met at Katie's home, where she shared her hillside garden in an urban area with our group.
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| Katie shares her story |
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| She creates garden spaces for clients |
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| Katie grows edibles at her urban home |
We toured Highland Youth Gardens, which reminded me a lot of what Farmy Chippy has done in Baltimore, creating gardens and spaces from once-abandoned city lots. Children from a neighboring middle school assist in cultivation and harvest. Food produced is given away to those who want it every week.
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| The back entrance of the garden is just off the street |
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| Members of the tour, Teri and Denise, listen to our garden host |
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| Students from the school across the street learn from the garden |
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| Shady spaces are created by the grape arbor |
We all met for our annual awards dinner in the evening. I was very proud that two of my friends won Gold Laurel Awards from GardenComm!
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| Teresa Speight won Gold for her book Black Flora |
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| Kathy Jentz won Gold for Digital Media for her program Reduce Your Lawn Day |
Day 1 of our meet-up was fantastic!
Look for Day 2 later this week.
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