By Markis Hill

The Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners volunteers are the largest group of their kind in the nation. With around 540 volunteers and an average of 35 new members each year, the Extension Master Gardeners extend their reach throughout Johnson County. The front-facing project with which the volunteer base has the most public interaction is our demonstration gardens. These gardens are set up to showcase the best management practices to the public. Each garden has its own unique theme, purpose and plant material.

Garden Gallery is a teaching garden located at the Johnson County Sunset Offices. Its purpose is to be used as an educational resource to show different types of plants and how to use them in the landscape. Each section of the garden demonstrates a different design style and functionality. From evergreens to bright annuals, native plants to great big exotics, this garden contains attractive displays everywhere you look.

The Backyard Garden at the K-State Horticulture Center in Olathe is a fruit and vegetable garden with added herbs and cut flowers. It shows all the practical possibilities that can be replicated on a small scale, like your backyard. Although this garden focuses on small scale production, the master gardeners successfully harvest more than 6,000 lbs of produce a year. These vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers are donated to local food banks.

West Flanders Park in Shawnee is home to the West Flanders Garden, managed by the Extension Master Gardeners. With a Belgian cottage design and a transition from warm to cool colors, this garden’s theme is inspired by Shawnee’s Sister City, Pittem, Belgium. And what park-side garden would be complete without a children’s sensory garden? Children can walk in the bed on hand-painted stepping stones, touching and interacting with the plants before getting a picture of their head on a dragon’s body.

Another garden located in a public park is Wassmer Park Garden in Prairie Village. This pocket-style garden sits on only 2,600 square feet and is the youngest EMG demonstration garden. Wassmer has four quadrants that mirror each other. When sitting on one of the benches, looking in front of you should have a similar layout as the bed behind you. Each bed is different in the choice of colors and plant material used.

Shawnee Indian Mission Garden is located at the historic Native American boarding school in Fairway. It is also home to an Extension Master Gardener demonstration garden. The garden has four main areas: an herb garden, a sunny pollinator bed, a vegetable garden and a bioswale pollinator and rain garden. This site is also where the St. Agnes Jr. Master Gardeners meet monthly. The vegetable gardeners picks their plants based on what the Native American
Tribes would’ve had access to when they lived in the area. There is a heavy emphasis on landscaping with native plants in the pollinator and rain gardens.

Blue Valley Wilderness Science Center Garden is adjacent to Blue Valley Middle School in Overland Park. It is a living laboratory that the school utilizes for teaching the students, who will be the environmental stewards of the future. This garden features a wide range of native plants that serve as habitats for native pollinators.

Historic Shawnee Town Garden 1929 has two EMG demonstration gardens. The first garden is the herb garden, which Susan Weber, the creator and chair of the garden, defines as anything humans find useful. The\ other garden is a country flower garden. Plant material for both areas focuses on flowers and plants that bring happiness and joy to the people and pollinators who visit.

The Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens has a colorful, not so hidden gem: Monet Garden, which the Extension Master Gardeners design and maintain. Inspired by Claude Monet’s Garden in Giverny, France, this garden’s primary focus is color, with each section having its own color scheme and unique function.

Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead has the oldest demonstration garden by the Johnson County EMGs. The EMGs oversee 12 different individual gardens within Deanna Rose, all of which were designed to be friendly to the visiting children. Gardens include a vegetable garden, native bed, butterfly garden, herb garden and espalier fruit trees. There is even a shade butterfly garden called Beverly’s Garden, which will also be home to a Hosta garden recognized by the National Hosta Society.