Mission Oaks
Gardens

The perennial garden offers an easily accessible place to come and take refuge. The gazebo, which is located in the middle of the garden, offers shelter from the sun & rain and is the perfect spot to sit and take in the sights and sounds of nature.

The perennial garden runs along the northwest corner of Mission Oaks and encompasses over 3,000 square feet of ground including a rustic and beautifully handmade, wooden gazebo. This huge border garden has a stone path that wanders through the middle and is awash with hundreds of varieties of vibrant, herbaceous perennials that are all hardy in Ohio.

The garden has something new to discover every week beginning in early spring with blooms like Lenten Rose, Blue Bells and Indian Hyacinth. By the middle of June, the garden is usually at its peak with boldly colored perennials such as 'Tomato Soup' Cone Flowers, 'Blue Paradise' Phlox, and 'Bartzella' Itoh Peonies. By mid- November, the garden has reached its finale with re-blooming Iris, the hardy 'Will's Wonderful' Chrysanthemum, and the late blooming 'First Light' Swamp Sunflower.

In the early days of Mission Oaks Gardens, the newly planted trees surrounding the perennial garden were young and the garden enjoyed full sun conditions. At that time, the garden was designed and planted to bloom as if a giant color wheel had been rolled out. The warm red and orange blooming perennials were grouped together and as one walked along, the plants would transition into softer oranges and yellows, then into the cool blues and violets, and then back again to oranges and reds. This approach was somewhat borrowed from one of the prominent garden designers of the 19th century, Gertrude Jekyll. She felt that arranging flower colors into these complimentary groupings that transition slowly from cool to hot and back to cool, better prepared the eye to receive and appreciate their contrasting differences.

Over the years, the garden has evolved, somewhat, from this original plan. The trees have matured and the garden is continually evolving with its environment as the conditions around it change.