SHARONVILLE — An unusual garden club is taking root at Historic Southwest Ohio Inc.'s Heritage Village Museum in Sharon Woods.

Working in a herb garden are Mary Wiseman of Reading (left), Melissa Conners of Finneytown, and Sandy Navaro of Glendale. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        The mission of the Heritage Museum Garden Club is to “create garden landscapes that complement the 12 historic buildings in the village — all built between 1804 and 1870,” said Mary Wiseman, curator of grounds for the village museum.

        Five existing gardens are being improved and the group hopes to develop several additional gardens throughout the village, provide educational tours and pamphlets about each garden and the varieties of plants contained in them, Mrs. Wiseman said.

        The fledgling club hopes to locate and plant “heirloom” varieties that can be traced to the 1800s — not hybrids or other types of plants developed in more recent times, Mrs. Wiseman said.

        The group envisions a medicinal herb and plant garden to complement the 1857 home and office of Dr. Henry Langdon, which was moved to the village from its original East End site; and a dye garden featuring plants used in the 1800s to dye wool, fabrics and plant fibers such as flax.

IF YOU GO

• Who: John Kunst, owner of Old House Gardens.     • Topic: “Antique Gardens: American Home Landscapes, 1800-1940.”     • When: 6-8 p.m. March 27.     • Where: Sharon Centre Auditorium, Sharon Woods.     • Cost: $10 per person.     • Reservations: 563-9484.

        The current group has about seven volunteers.

        “We really would like to have between 40 and 100 volunteer gar deners in our club,” Mrs. Wiseman said.

        To help boost the membership, Heritage Village Museum is sponsoring a March 27 visit by Scott Knust, owner of the Old House Gardens in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a nationally recognized expert in grounds restorations and landscape.

       For more information or to join the Heritage Village Garden Club, contact: Mary Wiseman, curator of grounds, Heritage Village Museum, P.O. Box 62462, Cincinnati, OH 45262. 563-9484. Cost is $15 a year.

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