A 16 Acre Secret Garden

Their mission is the development, evolution and maintenance of gardens made up of rare plants and flowers which provide enjoyment, education and inspiration. At Gardenview, enjoy a natural, cottage-style landscape that appears to have happened by itself.
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Since its legal dedication as a public park in 1961, the development of Gardenview has continued to be recognized as one of the world’s most inspiring gardens. Included in the catalog of several professional growers are plants once cultivated and patented by Gardenview.

History
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At a point in the mid-1930s, a young boy named Henry Ross began spending his time puttering in the garden of his parents’ small home, located in Cleveland Ohio, all the while reading of the beautiful public gardens of England and Europe, and dreaming of one day being able to create something similar.

Now a 23 year-old World War II veteran in and college graduate, Henry managed to borrow enough money in 1949 to purchase 16-acre parcel of run-down land in Strongsville. Enamored with the land's unique design, Henry made the purchase in the winter, not knowing until the snow melted the poor soil and drainage conditions. Nothing would grow on it except blackberry brambles and the most tenacious of weeds.

With only the money he was able to earn from a part-time job, Henry spent the next 12 years of backbreaking labor, 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, transforming desolation into at least a beginning of what he had envisioned. Thousands of truckloads of manure had to be shoveled, wheelbarrowed and spread up to three feet deep around the gardens. Miles of drain tile were installed, all by hand. Slowly, the land began to come back to life, and Gardenview began to develop, one painstaking step at a time.

By early 1961, it became apparent that, in order to ensure that Gardenview would endure as an “oasis of beauty” forever, it had to be legally dedicated as a public park. Accordingly, a non-profit corporation was created under the laws of the State of Ohio to operate and administer Gardenview in perpetuity. The title to the property was turned over to the corporation AS A GIFT with the stipulation that it must remain a public park forever. Throughout the next 20 years, the value of the land attracted attention. To hold onto Gardenview, Henry prepared his own legal briefs and represented himself eight times in court successfully.
Although this solved the legal status for the perpetuation of Gardenview, there was still very little money with which to work and not enough to hire the help needed to maintain the grounds. Relying entirely on the support of its members, Gardenview continues to face these challenges. Presently, the budget only allows funding for one full time gardener.

Cost is $5.

We may get lunch afterwards nearby.