Photos courtesy of Vaughn Hovey
When Jack and Jody Sjogren agreed to be part of last year’s WesterFlora Garden Tour, it was music to organizers’ ears.
The couple, along with Sue Rudibaugh, had signed up to perform in one of the tour gardens as their three-piece band, the Brookstone Chamber Players. But when tour selection committee member Linda Laine visited the Sjogrens to talk to them about the gig, she saw their large and immaculately kept garden and immediately realized the Sjogrens should contribute more than just their performing talents.
“(The garden) was musically put together,” says Laine.
The Sjogrens have lived in the Sandstone Loop East house since 2010. The couple, who have no children, are longtime gardeners, so they got right to work on it as soon as they could.
“We’ve been gardening for a long time, though probably not always as extensively as we’re doing now,” says Jody.
Annuals, perennials and ornamentals are among the areas the couple enjoys emphasizing, and the more colorful, the better, Jody says.
What really grabs visitors’ attention, though, is the vegetable garden, located in the back yard around the patio.
“Our big thing is leafy greens,” Jody says. “We like to grow our own salad greens, and we pretty much grow them all summer.”
The Sjogrens start their planting in April, then eat that produce until July – when they pull, replant and eat again through November. And Jody will blanch and freeze what goes uneaten so it can be used all winter.
Though kale is an occasional consideration, the majority of the greens are types of lettuce and chard.
“There’s one that’s really a superstar, and it’s the Simpson Elite,” Jody says. “It’s a beautiful, leafy lettuce that just performs like crazy.”
There’s more to the vegetable selection than just leafy greens, though. Tomatoes, peppers and green beans are among the other items on the proverbial menu.
The Sjogrens’ motivations aren’t complicated. They just like being able to eat the freshest vegetables possible, and going out in the morning to pick one’s dinner for the evening allows for that.
The couple put a lot of work into conditioning and enriching the soil, as vegetables take a lot out of it. Not only does that mean composting, it also means the Sjogrens rake up their neighbors’ leaves in the fall, mulch them and add them to the garden.
“We put new garden soil and new compost on at the beginning and end of each season,” Jody says.
A sizable shade garden consisting mainly of perennials highlights the north side of the yard. Coral bells, hostas and astilbes are some of the ones Jody prefers.
“Once the plants get mature, they just fill the whole bed, and I don’t really have to plant anything (else),” she says. “That’s one whole side of the house I don’t have to worry about.”
Ending up on last year’s WesterFlora was a happy accident, Jody says.
“We were just going to play our music, and we were hoping (Laine) would assign us to somebody’s garden,” she says. “But when she came to listen to us … she wanted a tour around our house, and then she just handed us an application and said, ‘Go ahead and play your own garden.’”
The three-piece Brookstone Chamber Players, named for the neighborhood in which its members live, specializes in classical music, though it incorporates a bit of popular music, Jody says. Jack plays piano, Jody plays cello and Rudibaugh plays violin.
“All of us have been playing our instruments since we were kids,” Jody says, adding that she only recently started playing cello, but it was a short step from her original instrument of string bass.
The ensemble has played at weddings, church services, nursing homes and community events, sometimes as background music and sometimes as the main attraction. The group will be playing at Tapestry of a Town in July.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at hbealer@cityscenecolumbus.com.
The Westerville Civic Beautification Committee is now accepting applications for those who aspire to be on the 2015 WesterFlora Garden Tour, whether as tour stops or performers. The application can be found on the event website, www.westerflora.com.
A presentation titled “The Secrets to Growing a Winning Garden” given by previous tour gardeners will take place 7-8 p.m. May 21 at the Westerville Community Center for the benefit of those interested in participating.
