Love of plants continues to blossom
for Como resident

Como Park resident Leanne Clemmons is marking her very own yard with the green thumb that brightened up the Como Park Conservatory for many years. (Photo by Andrew Fossbinder)

By DEBORAH BROTZ

Even though Leann Clemmons no longer works at Como Conservatory, her love of plants continues in her front and back yard of her Como Park home. She recently participated in The District 10 Garden Tour last month, which was part of the Como Neighborhood Staycation, and opened her garden for neighbors to see.

Clemmons became interested in gardening when she was working at Como Conservatory back in the late ‘90s.

“I would pump the gardeners for information,” she said. “We bought our house in ‘97 and started digging up the yard to put a garden in the following spring.
Obviously, we didn’t do it all at once. We did little pieces at a time. Over the course of one year, I got to the point where I thought, I like it. I’m done.”

But, Clemmons says there’s always something to do in her garden.

“You’re never really done,” she said. “Things change. The Japanese maple tree was just a little stick when I got it. Now, it’s 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide, about as big as it can get. The plants underneath it didn’t like so much shade. Things have to be moved around. This was true especially in the front with the sugar maple.”

Clemmons humorously confesses the reason she turned most of her front and back yard into a garden.

“Apparently, I can’t grow grass,” she said. “I grow weeds. I couldn’t do all the chemical and whatever (pesticides and weed killer), so I had to get rid of it. It was horrible grass.”

Describing her garden as unconventional, Clemmons says she broke all the rules.
“It’s kind of an extension of my house,” she said. “It’s like, I like it and if no one else likes it, that’s alright. If something dies, I replace it with what I like to grow there. Some of it, I can’t do. I can’t keep a pincushion plant alive. I tried a number of different areas, and it just doesn’t work.”

Before putting in a plant, Clemmons considers the plant’s requirements.

“I want to know how many hours of light for the plant,” she said. “On the south side, I have a lot of clay soil in there. I try to add peat and manure and try to get it better. Especially, if there are bulbs in there, you can’t dig around too much. If a plant says vigorous, it means it’s going to spread. I have a limited amount of space. The beebalm spread too much so I took it out. When it comes to something aggressive and wants to spread, I get rid of it.”

In turning her yard into a garden, Clemmons wanted to create a special place.

“I wanted it to be a place you want to come to—a relaxing, flowering place with fragrance,” she said. “I think I’ve succeeded. It’s a place to read a book, have a conversation, and watch birds. It really becomes another room in the summer.”

In learning how to take care of the plants in her garden, Clemmons says she followed her mother’s advice, “Do your homework.”

“You go to Half Price Books, get a bunch of books cheap and spend the winter reading,” she said. “That first winter here in ‘97-’98, I pumped the gardeners for information, I got some books and read like crazy.”

Acquiring an interest in tropical plants while working at Como Conservatory, Clemmons has large numbers of many different kinds of plants in her garden. She has over 50 different daylilies, 35 different coral bells and similar plants like tirella or foam flowers, 30 different astilbes, 30 different stone crop or sedum, and 30 to 35 hostas.

“A professional would say I’ve jammed too much in here,” said Clemmons. “But, I like it. That’s all that matters. It’s like decorating your house. It’s your own taste, whatever makes you happy. It’s your own personal style.”

On her brown stained deck and throughout her garden, Clemmons has many rocks.
“I like rocks,” she said. “I have bowls of rocks in the house. There are so many shapes and textures. Some are sparkly or change color when they get wet.”

Clemmons didn’t plan what to put in her garden before going to the store.

“I just go to the store and buy what I like,” she said. “I have no willpower when it comes to flowers.”

According to Clemmons, the most unusual plants in her garden are tropicals—gardenia, jasmine, bananas, pineapple, bougainvillea, king sago palms, bromeliads, variegated ginger, dwarf bird of paradise, climbing bleeding heart, passionflower, asarina, and brown sedge grass.

“My new one is Jungle Gardenia, Ixora Maui Red,” she said.

She also grows a good selection of plants for food—carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, lettuce, radishes, beans, snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts.

“We’ve had all kinds of things—bok choy, kohlrabi, corn, parsley, herbs, potatoes, zucchini, and acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash,” said Clemmons.

Most gardeners, as well as Clemmons, do have favorite plants.

“My favorite plants are gardenia and jasmine because of the fragrance,” she said. “As far as perennials, I like hyacinth a lot because of the fragrance.”

Maintaining her garden is a lot of work only at certain times.

“It’s a lot of work in spring and fall,” said Clemmons. “In summer, the busiest time is when the day lilies are blooming. There’s a lot of deadheading with day lilies. I put mulch down so there’s not a lot of weeding.”

Clemmons’ garden also has water features—a waterfall and bird baths everywhere. In addition to the cardinal everyone calls “Baldie,” mourning doves, chickadees, and robins are often seen in her yard.

“The waterfall is styrofoam,” she said. “I just needed it to be as simple as possible. I wanted the sound of the waterfall and a place for birds.”

There’s a certain feeling Clemmons gets when she’s in her garden.

“It’s like I’m on vacation,” she said.

With neighbors dropping by all day long, Clemmons’ garden is important to her. Sitting in her sky chair, which hangs on a frame, she often has the company of her neighbors’ pomeranian and a large tomcat named Morris, who everyone calls Mo Mo.

“It’s a productive use of time,” she said. “I don’t have any more grass to dig up. I’m going to dig up the boulevard because the sod the City put down was junk. I have wildflower mix in one part of the boulevard. I’ll just use more of that to finish off the boulevard and get rid of weeds.”

Gardening for 12 years since 1998, Clemmons has several hopes for her garden.

“I hope for no bunnies,” she said. “I need to work on my vegetables. I really do hope my great grandmother’s white peony blooms next year. It was at my mom’s house. I got it when she passed. It’s over 100 years old. It came originally from Forest Lake.”