Celebrating 20 years of beauty and education, Lakeside Commons Educational Gardens has been a county jewel. Lakeside Commons’ mission is to serve as an educational garden for hands-on interactive learning for all citizens in Campbell County and neighboring Greater Cincinnati. Plants and growing techniques shown in the garden are based on research by the horticulture staff and volunteers. The educational gardens represented are the rose garden, which features over 110 different varieties, vegetable and herb garden, registered monarch waystation, certified pollinator garden, monarch hatchery, cut flower garden, Kentucky prairie, perennial and annual beds, conifer collection, three water gardens, and ornamental and fruiting Kentucky native trees. These gardens fill the landscape for visitors to relax, enjoy, and digest information to adopt into their landscape practices. With three horticulture staff members and 18 dedicated volunteers, weekly garden projects are scheduled to install, maintain, and conduct research throughout the gardens. Starting in April until mid-November, our passionate and dedicated volunteers and horticulture staff, together as a team, gather every Friday morning to accomplish one goal, to continue to maintain and offer an interactive learning garden to users. 

            Extension volunteers allow programming throughout the county to grow and thrive generation after generation while using research based information. The horticulture Master Gardeners (MG) here in Campbell County are eager to learn new techniques to adopt and implement into our educational gardens. Exploring other botanical gardens, nurseries, parks, and attending professional development conferences, provides us inspiration to cultivate practices into our gardens back at home. Recently the horticulture staff took a group of MG volunteers to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, Forest Park, and to The St. Louis Zoo. Here, we gathered valuable information about native gardens, pollinator gardens, and raising and releasing butterflies. We were inspired, and installed an 8’x 20’ enclosed butterfly hatchery. We have planted this desirable habitat to attract swallowtail, painted ladies and monarchs so they will have a place to call their home. Inside we monitor butterflies from egg to adult. Upon release of the monarchs, we tag them with provided stickers that allows us to monitor their arrival in Mexico. In addition, we lead tours and provide resources for homeowners and local schools. Inspired by the glasswork of Dale Chihuly and kinetic wind sculptures that were on display in various gardens at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, we have reached out to local artists to implement local art and other forms of Kentucky cultural arts into our educational gardens. 

Another addition to our gardens adapted from the Missouri trip was the accessible sensory garden. Here we strategically plant for the senses of touch, sight, sound, and smell. No matter ones age, the touch of a sensitive plant for the first time brings curiosity to one’s mind and initiates engagement with gardening. 

            After our visit to the Kentucky State Master Gardener Conference in Louisville, we were inspired.  Designers, horticulturists, and ecologists provided concepts and considerations to keep in mind while implementing sustainable design in landscapes, in particular into our urban communities. Here, volunteers also learned the importance of maintaining good health of our mind and bodies as we age with gardening. As a result, we have purchased ergonomic tools and are planning to collaborate with FCS agent, Kate Thompson, to implement exercises and stretches into our garden workday to improve balance and prevent injuries. 

For years, photographers, musicians, and writers have visited our gardens and found a quiet place and inspiration. We strive to offer a place for all to enjoy and find beauty. The Cincinnati Horticultural Society awarded our garden as being “a local garden whose contribution to horticulture is an inspiration to others.” What a great honor to the hard work, the many helping hands and hours devoted to the design and upkeep of our garden.  Once a piece of land farmed by the Steffen family, now horticulturists care for and offer a safe place for all to gather and to be inspired.

                In addition to extending horticulture knowledge to others in Campbell County, MG volunteers have also volunteered to represent horticulture programming by serving on Extension District Board, Advisory Council, County Extension Council, and the Northern Kentucky Master Garden Association.

While retaining volunteers for some is a challenge, our group of MG garden volunteers find the Lakeside Commons Educational Gardens a magical place where one seems as if they never want to leave.  Repeatedly, we hear from our horticulture volunteers that our gardens and projects “improve my social well-being by building strong bonds with others,” “most of all, it gives me purpose”; “it boosts my mood by learning new skills and makes a difference in someone else’s life”.  As the gardens continue to grow and demonstrate sustainable practices, the Extension horticulture staff and volunteers will continue to create a welcoming and healthy garden environment for all to enjoy!