By Michelle Gibson

From the many exhibits at Franklin Park Conservatory to Inniswood Metro Gardens, the Columbus area is “rich in public gardens,” according to Westerville resident Barbara Shepard.

She would know.

Shepard, who served as president of the Westerville Garden Club for the 2007-2009 term, has been gardening all her life – more than 60 years. She is a nationally certified landscape design consultant, gardening studies consultant and the Columbus District director for the Garden Club of Ohio, which according to its Web site supports gardening endeavors through educational programs, horticulture and floriculture.

Her goal of creating a totally landscaped garden at her home is something she has worked on for the past 24 years.

“I’ve worked on it ever since we moved to Westerville, and I’m still not finished,” Shepard says.

She spends countless hours improving her garden, taking classes on garden designs, improving soil quality, gathering and propagating plants.

Shepard takes some of the classes through The Garden Club of Ohio. The club offers eight hours of landscape design classes in the Columbus area over two days and four courses. She loves that the classes are open to the public because of how much she learns from others and the camaraderie shared by classmates.

Shephard has also taken home gardening and landscaping classes at Columbus State Community College. She says classes are her favorite way to find inspiration.

When she’s not in her own garden or a class, she can often be found driving around Ohio visiting and viewing other gardens, both residential and public, as part of her role as Columbus District director.

“I go all over: to my neighbors’ gardens, Westerville Parks and Recreation, Westerflora, garden tours. I’ve met a lot of people with fantastic gardens. Sometimes you see something and you just gotta have it,” she says.

Shepard diligently puts her knowledge to work, and her garden offers plenty of aesthetics – an effort for which she has been recognized. For the past few years she has won an impressive number of awards from the Garden Club of Ohio’s annual conventions. For 2008-2009, she was second in the number of awards won, including first and second place in the photography category, since she also enjoys taking pictures of her creations.

In her garden, Shepard focuses on cultivating an entirely unique landscape by collecting different plants and the newest and best varieties.

“I enjoy the detail. When you’re going through paths and viewing everything and enjoying vignettes, you think about how to build in a way that makes everything look good as a whole,” she says. “You come across things along the way that makes it special – a new color of a plant for that variety, a double instead of a single, something unusual or that I haven’t seen before, or something I’ve seen in someone else’s garden.”

This attention to detail makes it easy for her to spend all day – or as she puts it, “hours and hours and hours” – in her garden, especially on nice, sunny days in the spring or fall, her preferred time to be outdoors.

“I get out early, as early as I can, and stay out until dark,” she says. “I’ll walk around the garden before I start and make a to-do list of areas to concentrate on, like weeding here or planting seeds there, or working on the compost pile.”

Her garden looks different from week to week, beginning in the spring when the daffodils and crocuses are in bloom. She gardens all year round, tailoring her chores for the season, and is always seeking out the newest plants.

Shepard says gardening keeps her young, and she loves the relaxation it provides.

“I love doing it. It’s very good physically because it’s really a lot of exercise, and it’s very good psychologically because it’s peaceful. It’s just real happiness,” Shepard says. “When I was working and things would be very stressful, gardening was just such a stress reliever; even a spiritual type thing. I’d like to just die in my garden. I want to be there forever.”

Michelle Gibson is a contributing writer for Westerville Magazine.

BONUS:
Shepard is offering a free seminar at 7 p.m. March 11 at the Westerville Community Center, 350 N. Cleveland Ave., titled “Getting More Plants for Less Money.” Topics will include plant propagation and fun tips for your garden. Registration is required and can be done at the center. Call 614-901-6500 for more information.