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May 31, 2023

Gettysburg June Garden of the Month

The Gettysburg Garden Club through its Garden of the Month Committee presented

The Gettysburg Garden Club through its Garden of the Month Committee presented June's award to Susan Hood, 2910 Baltimore Pike.

Hood writes of her garden: " My vision came to me about four years ago. What was once brush, weeds, thorny blackberries, and poison ivy is now a beautiful garden with a variety of plants, flowers, and trees."

They are, to name a few, lilies of the valley, pink evening primroses, yucca, monkshood ( aconite), tree peony, hostas, oakleaf hydrangea, ginkgo tree, monks cress (or garden nasturtium), heath pearlwort, Siberian and German iris.

Indeed, Hood's design of her garden beds and paths takes one into a wonderful, partly shady oasis. One long side is backed by a tall wood fence lined with cedars and other trees and decorated with colorful, imaginative objects. Several entrance pathways to the garden space are on the other side.

One entrance is set with pretty stepping stones Hood found in the leftover slab pile at the Beveled Edge. She has a gift for acquiring interesting pieces of pottery (Talavera), whimsical notions, and various attractive rocks to use in beds and along pathways. Some delicious petunia varieties and sedums delight the eye.

Hood says her color scheme is that of the "rainbow." Nolt's supplies the garden with mulch annually; neighbors supply some compost; and Miracle Gro and local nursery products help to amend the soils. Her husband, Guy, a woodworker and builder, has helped with much of the "heavy lifting" tasks.

Further, Hood writes, "My two sisters and I have worked diligently together over the years. We’ve shared plants with each other and ideas to make the garden better. I’ve gotten plants from the Gettysburg Garden Club's sales and from friends and greenhouses in the community. I love walking through the garden remembering from whom and from where I’ve gotten things."

One of her sisters now lives in Texas, and the family visits back and forth when possible, a long but loving distance between the garden zones. The Hood property extends several acres back from Baltimore Pike next to two other family members’ land, some of which grows farm crops. The families’ roots extend back into Adams County's history for several decades.

The focus or theme of June's Garden of the Month selection was "hidden gardens," or those not easily seen from a road or alleyway. The committee viewed other exceptional gardens, but fortunately Connie Holland, of our garden club and a master gardener, referred us to Susan Hood.

Upon several visits to her garden I have seen not only what is a well planned, unique, and sometimes whimsical place, but in Hood a welcoming special gardener. May the photos here convey some of Hood's creative spirit.

She also writes, "In the beginning there was a perfect garden designed by God. His original intention was for peace and tranquility."

One certainly feels and sees grace and pleasure in what Susan Hood has developed. She has some plans perhaps for a small Koi pond and then for whatever plantings and ideas that may come her way. Meanwhile, she generously invites anyone interested in visiting the garden to let her know in advance by calling her at her home or the Gettysburg PNC bank where she is employed.

To nominate your property or someone else's for the Garden of the Month award, call Cornelia Saltzman at 717-677-7940, or visit the club's website at www.gettysburg

gardenclub.com.

Submitted by Cornelia Saltzman on behalf of the Gettysburg Garden Club's Garden of the Month program.

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