LIMA, Ohio – The Allen County Master Gardeners’ Brown Bag Series has officially begun, heralding the arrival of summer.
The first of 13 lunchtime sessions centered on “Grandma’s Garden,” with Master Gardener Mary Payne sharing her enthusiasm for heritage gardens. Payne emphasized how plants passed down through generations preserve not only beauty but history. Her collection includes a century-old iris that belonged to her grandmother and still blooms each year.
Payne explained that traditional gardens were densely planted with a wide variety of flowers and herbs, many of which were used on a daily basis at home. She encouraged attendees to collect plant starts from friends and neighbors rather than purchasing store-bought varieties.
“Most of the plants that you start in grandma’s gardens would not be plants that you’re going to go to the store and buy,” Payne told me. “Ladies mantle is one of the very old ones. There are a lot of old-fashioned daylilies—you know, the tall orange ones you see by the road. That is an old-fashioned one. You are not going to buy that at the store.”
The Allen County Master Gardeners are hosting the Brown Bag Series every Tuesday from now until August 26, beginning at 12:15 p.m. at the Children’s Garden gazebo. Each session concludes by 1 p.m. The complete schedule is available on the Children’s Garden Facebook page.
