Sunday, August 26

From field to fantasy

Lessons from a ‘relaxed’ gardener
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS: VIEW HERE

Marie Hancock is quite sure that she’s killed more plants than most people have ever even tried to grow. And, given the fact that she’s been an avid gardener since the age of 3, there’s a good possibility that could be true.

The Daily Journal/Kim Carpenter The ‘rainbow border’ stretches across the front lawn of the Hancock’s home. It is backed by an extensive vegetable garden.

Currently, Marie and John, her husband of 53 years, tend nearly two acres off River Road in Kankakee. The couple has called the property “home” for 40 years. They raised five children there and count 15 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren as frequent and special guests.

Even though their family is scattered now, Marie and John still garden in a big way. Flowers, fruits and vegetables — the later two filling two freezers and more than 400 canning jars in season — spill from every nook and cranny of the acreage. But the Hancocks have one longstanding agreement: The fruits and vegetables are John’s domain. The flowers belong to Marie.

“We both come from farm families,” says Marie. “So we’ve been growing our own food most of our lives. But it’s the flowers that feed my soul.”

‘Sowing’ the field
When Marie and John first moved to the property, it was literally a cornfield. The first year they planted trees. Then the following spring, the food crops went in, because with five children, practicalities took precedence.

But little by little, Marie began adding beds for her beloved flowers. Today those beds are eclectic mixes of annuals, perennials, vines and flowering shrubs. There’s the ‘rainbow border’ that starts out with red-flowering plants that blend into orange that blend into yellow that blend into purple that blend into blue that blend into silver and white. Roses fill an area at the corner of the house. Marie’s favorite is an unnamed variety taken as a cutting from one that her grandfather grew in southern Illinois. There are also pots containing grafted stems from an apple tree that Marie’s grandmother cultivated.

A gardener for more than six decades, Marie Hancock still tends nearly two acres in Kankakee.

For her own grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Marie has created a grove that she dubbed the “Hundred Acre Wood” where she’s planted 25 varieties of native plants such as bloodroot, shooting star, Dutchman’s breeches and May apple. Across the yard, in an area with more sun, a large border is packed with poppies and dahlias and echinacea and much more. And further still are beds designed around specific colorings like blue and yellow or green and white.

“I have something flowering from early spring right up until frost in the fall,” says Marie. “I am always experimenting. If something doesn’t do well or doesn’t look right one year, I just move it the next.”

Replacements are not hard to come by. This year alone, Marie stared more than 350 plants from seed. Others come from cuttings. Both groups are stared in a spare bedroom and then grown off in a small greenhouse and garden shed that John fashioned from recycled materials.

Still, Marie has developed a list of favorites over the years. Petunias, lupines and nicotiana are always included, but she always adds a few newcomers, too. This season a “Rainbow Knock Out” rose took top honors.

Marie’s sense of humor is evident in the many touches of whimsy she includes in her borders.

Giving back
As if tending two acres was not enough to keep her busy, Marie is also active in the local gardening community. She has served several terms as president of the Kankakee Valley Garden Club, earned her Master Gardener certificate last year (because, as Marie puts it, “You’re never too old to learn.”) and is a frequent contributor at both the Iroquois and Kankakee County Fairs.

The Hancocks have no plans to slow down or cut back on their gardening efforts. Marie says that they talk about eliminating certain crops or borders but whenever they try, they just end up filling the spot with something else.

“Gardening is not work to me,” says Marie. “It’s relaxing. It’s therapeutic. But then I’m a pretty relaxed gardener. If you’re looking for a yard where every blade of grass stands at attention, you’re not going to find it here.”

An award winning writer and features editor, Mary Ellen counts it a joy to be able to blend her 15-year-long career in journalism with a life-long love of gardening. A Master Gardener in her own right, our editor has tried her hand at growing everything from coreopsis and calycanthus to peanuts and pears.