Phipps Conservatory announces Sustainable Gardening Award winners
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Phipps Conservatory has been allowing visitors to experience the beauty of nature for more than 120 years. A large part of Phipps’ success in recent years lies in their principles of sustainability. They focus on growing and caring for their gardens and architecture in environmentally-friendly ways that support the long-term health of the plants and the people who care for them. In keeping with those goals, Phipps Conservatory awarded five local residential gardens in the Phipps Sustainable Gardening Awards. These awards were given in five different categories, each highlighting a certain tenet of eco-friendly gardening practices. From residential yards resplendent with native plants to craftily-assembled container gardens hidden away in urban areas, these five awardees offer stunning and creative spaces that bring sustainability to the forefront.
Best Native Plantings and Wildlife Garden
Sally B. Foster
Fox Chapel
Sally Foster, a 40-year veteran gardener, learned most of the secrets of her success from gardening clubs. This includes her focus on native plants. “You have to have plants that are native so that the pollinators, and even the birds and butterflies, recognize the plant and will use it,” she said. She is currently tending a garden outside of her apartment building, much to the joy of her neighbors. “A lot of people say, oh, this reminds me of my grandmother’s garden. Flowers are uplifting.” That includes her favorite, Rudbeckia triloba, or the Brown-Eyed Susan. Gardening brings Foster great joy, now more than ever. “In the beginnings of the pandemic, my garden saved me.”
Best Garden that Manages Stormwater
Patricia Schildkamp
Unity
Patricia Schildkamp is a graduate of Penn State’s Master Gardener program, and they introduced her to methods of stormwater management that could help with her sloped yard. “I read a lot about rain gardens and rain barrels. I thought, ‘I have a situation in my yard where I could do a rain garden and it could help this runoff that we’ve been getting.’” It required some patience, but has been a great success. She is particularly fond of meadow plants like New York ironweed, and finds great joy in the peace of gardening. “They don’t talk back…if you find the right way to grow something, you have something coming back next year, that’s very rewarding. It becomes addictive.”
Best Micro-garden
Stefanie Zito
Bloomfield
Stefanie Zito met with gardening challenges when her family moved into their home, a 20-foot-wide property with no real green space. “A lot of it came from being in this space that’s kind of a concrete jungle, and I really just felt this instinctive need to start bringing some green into that space.” She and her husband started gardening in vertical containers, growing climbing plants on lattices, and building raised beds. She finds reward in experimenting and watching plants grow and flourish, often from seeds grown under lights in her basement. This is especially true for chamomile. “It’s one of these herbs where the more you harvest it, the more prevalent it can grow…It was this amazing lesson for me about abundance.”
Best Abundant Edible Garden
Jordan Tony and Silvan Goddin
Swissvale
Jordan Tony and Silvan Goddin met at a community garden in college, and they have been growing together ever since. They focus on growing as much of their food as possible. “Just the idea that you can grow your own sustenance is mundane but also special. Living in the city your food can be very far removed from you,” Goddin said. They grow a variety of edible plants, from vegetables to fruits and even mushrooms. Right now, the couple is especially excited about growing beans, which are easy to grow and provide good sustenance for those trying to eat from their own land. “If you grow your own food, you can eat better than anyone,” Tony said, citing an idea he often repeats. “The richest person on earth eats only as good as we do.”
Best Garden for Personal Retreat
Helen and Ed Palascak
Mt. Lebanon
Helen and Ed Palascak did not start their garden intending to make a retreat, but it was easy to find relaxation in the act of growing. “I think we just started adding features that developed that more and more.” After 20 years of gardening, they find it soothing to see the life cycles of the garden—how they change, and how they stay the same. “We have benches in different places to sit that offer different views and I enjoy that…sitting and thinking about how the garden reflects life as a whole,” Ed Palascak said. They love all of the surprises and developments of the plants in their garden. “Every season, every day, has its own favorite. Something that just sprouted a new branch, or a new pod opened up.”
Sponsored by Phipps Conservatory