As the garden gate closes, it's time to say good-bye
Gardening columnist bids farewell
By Thea Steinmetz
happenings
Published August 17, 2005

The time has come to say good bye to my faithful and always supportive readers. This, then, is my last regular column I will be writing for West Life. It feels a bit as if I was writing my own obituary, except management has given me guest column privileges and I appreciate this gesture. So, on occasion, but not too often, I will crank up the old computer, perhaps at holiday time, and share some horticultural pearls with you.

Some of you have been with me since I first appeared on these pages 15 years ago. The date of my first column was July 18, 1990. Come to think of it, that was in the last century. No wonder I have opted for the retirement bell to ring for me.

That first column ran under the caption: "Gardening at the water's edge." It was the story of my best friend, the late Jolie Bishop, a master gardener and herbalist, and I begged her to let me pry into her gardening world and write about it. I felt that if I bombed, it was better to do so with a friend rather than a stranger.

Some of you have been most loyal and peruse what I wrote for three different newspapers and even the occasional magazines stories. Not that everything coming from my desk was terrific. A few times I asked myself, why am I writing about this garden? A particular North Olmsted garden, over run by weeds and devoid of flowers comes to mind. The elderly lady grew and loved her herbs and that is what the column ultimately celebrated.

In the fifteen years, it was a rare occasion that I struggled with how to positively detail a garden. Just the opposite was true. Most of the time I had to reign in my personal enthusiasm to stay on course without going over my allotted word allowance. Thank goodness there is a word counter on the computer, otherwise I would have gotten myself in trouble with the editor. I must have been struggling for a story in 1991 when the headline read: ""Let us eat lettuce." I have no idea if that was clever or just plain desperate.

Most of all, it has been a great learning experience for me. I love to write about many things and even though I have never felt like a true journalist, I always have been an information junky. Our younger son, Greg, earned a master's degree in journalism and for years was the bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal in Berlin and London. Now, that is a journalist. Perhaps, somewhere along the line on this memory trip it should be said that English is my second language and I feel blessed to have been educated on two continents. Early on, the English language came easy to me and today my German vocabulary is less than perfect. After marriage to an American student and classes at Baldwin Wallace College and Western Reserve University, a spark was ignited that made me appreciate the written word.

Many of the folks I had the privilege to get to know after our garden conversations have become friends and that in itself is a bonus. Arlene and Myron Blankenburg come to mind when I wrote a story on their Fairview Park "Hers and his garden."

I will always remain friends with Daina Lesheim of Rocky River. Judging by her front garden, Diana has to be the consummate gardener. She loves all plants and is blessed with a gift many of us wish we had. All things grow for her and according to her own words: "too much so."

Virginia and Jerry Garver enjoy their garden in Bay Village and cherish the view their stunning lakefront property offers them. Gardening while gazing out at sailboats gliding upon the water has to be a special treat.

Marilyn Rhinehalt's garden was one I admired and wanted to tell all about it. She can coax more flowers out of one package of seeds than anyone I have ever met. This Olmsted Township special friend shares a fondness for herbs with me.

There is an exquisite garden in Westlake that was not easy to get permission to write about. Lu and Dave Walter kept saying "no," but I persisted and finally I had their acquiescence. They felt their privacy would be compromised, but in the end everything turned out just fine.

It is not possible to say thank you to all the people that have encouraged me along the way, but a few deserve a special remembrance. Irma Bartel Dugan, many years ago as the garden editor of the Plain Dealer, encouraged me to write about herbs, my special hobby. This resulted in several columns on the subject. It was an enormous surprise to be published and besides, get a check for my effort in the mail.

Ed Pivcevich made a weekly columnist out of me for WestLife. My days as a television contributor for the "Morning Exchange" and "AM Cleveland" were over and I was looking for a new challenge. Operating on the theory that you find a void and fill it, I sent him a query letter with a suggestion of what kind of column I wanted to write. This weekly newspaper had a column on investing, where to eat and what shows to see. There was nothing on the hobby and necessity that occupies most suburbanites, gardening. I had an idea that gardeners would tell me their story, the good and the bad, relating to their experiences and sharing information with others.

The gardening community also includes the National City Cleveland Home and Garden Show. Judy and Chris Fassnacht, yearly, provide a glimmer of hope for spring in February. Folks in Cleveland deserve a bit of flower power in the middle of our sometimes brutal winters. I especially want to thank Judy for the inspiration and encouragement she has provided for the last 15 years while I was writing this column.

Finally, there have been a few columns that are hard to categorize. It has been a pleasure to write about the various organizations, mostly the garden clubs in our area. I saw this column as an adjunct of their mission. To tell of the work these organizations do is to be connected to the community.

Now I have come to the end of this fifteen year long journey of words. It has been my joy as well as my privilege to tip toe through the gardens of our community. Good bye and may all your personal sanctuaries continue to flourish and bring you joy.