A walk among the flowers on a lovely spring day

  • By Curtis Robert Tyree
  • May 25, 2010
  • 516
                        
Spring has finally sprung in the Tuscarawas Valley; the flowers are in bloom and the trees are full of leaves. The grounds of the J.E. Reeves Victorian Home and Carriage House Museum are the perfect example of this, with many types of spring flowers blooming, each showing their unique color and shape. Taking advantage of the season, museum gardener Renee Leetch gave a guided tour among the flowers and trees of the luscious grounds on May 16. “I didn’t want to give a regular garden tour, one where I just point out the flower and tell you how to care for it. I wanted to do something more interesting,” said Leetch. “So during the tour, I gave history lessons and folklore about the different kinds of plants on the grounds, along with some history about the grounds itself. “Where the parking lot is now located, there used to be a big vegetable garden. The Reeves grew much of their own produce, including a large amount of asparagus. There also used to be a pretty big greenhouse, in which there were boilers to keep the plants warm during the winter,” Leetch noted. The garden tour was the first of several garden-related events scheduled to take place at the Reeves home on the third Sunday of each month. Garden tours, such as the one held on May 16, will continue through July. In August, there will be a seminar on roses, featuring a master rosarian, September’s garden event will feature Mark Kellecker, owner of Hillcrest Garden Center. October will be the final month of the garden presentations and will conclude with a seminar on the unique Victorian language of flowers, which focuses on what each flower symbolized. “Some of the flowers and plants on the grounds today were not here originally,” said Leetch. “In the 1980s, the grounds were landscaped once again, in fact 30,800 Pachysandra were planted. We don’t have enough information to know exactly what was planted; even though there are photographs, I can’t determine by looking at them the exact plants that used to be here. “But what we do have on the grounds are plants that would have been known to the family during the time they did live here. We have cornflowers, which were a symbol of love. Some girls used to sleep with them under their pillows in hope that it would bring to them their true love,” she said. While accurate records of what the Reeves family had planted might not exist, there are records of what they grew. “We know they grew geraniums and roses, and in fact, our memorial rose garden is in the same spot they grew their roses. We do have one living plant still on the grounds from the time they lived here, the ginkgo tree near the carriage house. While about half of it was lost in 2008, when the remnants of Hurricane Ike struck us, it’s still going strong. In fact, in China, there is one ginkgo tree that is over 3,000 years old.” Leetch has been gardener for the museum since June 2009. Since then, she has started new programs and activities, including the garden tours and seminars. This year saw the start of a “victory garden” for the volunteers. They can take whatever grows in it as thank-you for their help. In April there was a seed sale, with seeds coming from plants on the grounds. The garden tours and seminars are free of charge, but donations towards the maintenance of the gardens and grounds are welcome. For more information, contact the Dover Historical Society at 330-343-7040 or visit www.doverhistory.org.


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