GAMBIER — The annual open house is over, and the private 75-acre Schnormeier Gardens has closed for the remainder of the year for a major renovation project.
“I like projects,” Ted Schnormeier said.
Indeed. The main lake, next to the house, will be lowered a few feet and 1,000 tons of limestone block will arrive at the site. The shore of the lake will be cut back 70 feet and a stone quarry will be installed, complete with waterfall and hanging gardens. It should be completed in 90 days or so, but visitors will have to wait until next year’s open house to see it.
The Schnormeiers have a photo of the rundown farm south of Gambier that they purchased in 1987. It shows a house, barn, an abandoned vehicle or two. The structures were burned down and a huge new house constructed on the foundation of the old one.
The real transformation from old farm to world-class Asian stroll garden started on July 6, 1996, said Schnormeier, and it may never end. Ted, who thinks big, keeps coming up with new ideas.
His wife, Ann, said he often looked out the window of the house back then and remarked that he loved the contour of the land “but it was kind of bare. Well, I never want to ask him to do anything really big,” she said with a wry smile.
Today, Schnormeier Gardens receives distinguished visitors from all over the world, by invitation. They come to see the more than 1,000 species, including extremely rare conifers, the swans — both black and white — the lotus pond, the 50 pieces of sculpture, 1,500 hosta plants (including unusual miniatures), multiple bridges, five lakes, artistic walls laid stone by stone, the Japanese resting house, tea house and other Asian structures and to hear the fascinating tale of the unfolding of the Schnormeiers’ project over the past 12 years.
Someone should write a book.
Fortunately, there is one in the works, due for release in mid-November. Scot E. Long, Ph.D., an anthropologist specializing in cultural ecology, is hard at work writing “Schnormeier Gardens: Peace, Harmony & Serenity,” which is the motto of the garden.
“The research opportunity,” said Long, “to be in the garden on a weekly basis, has been pure joy, a joyful experience for me. Most gardens have just one theme, but this one has so many themes. It offers such a variety of venues. I think that’s what makes it really special.”
At last weekend’s open house, the gardens were visited by more than 2,000 people, 75 to 80 percent of whom came from outside Knox County, estimated Ted, adding that they came from 18 states and seven different countries.
“It was really an amazing event,” he said, “the biggest so far.”
Many of those visitors were drawn to the open house by an article and photo in Budget Travel magazine. The Schnormeiers proudly note that the article lists world-class gardens in Ireland, England, New Zealand, Maine and Gambier.
“Of the hundreds of thousands of gardens around the world that have been developed for years and years, ours was chosen for the magazine,” said Ted. The writer calls the garden “a monument to the unexpected.”
The Schnormeiers are collectors and admirers of all aspects of Asian cultures, and they have incorporated design elements from many of them.
“I have always loved Asian art,” said Ann. “I started reading Pearl S. Buck when I was 8 years old. Ted is very fond of Frank Lloyd Wright. The [styles] are very compatible to each other.”
“There is an Asian influence in Wright’s work,” said Ted. “He collected Japanese prints and he emulated many of the styles of Japanese architecture. But one caveat ... I will add that he was already dead when this house was built, but he did influence it.”
Theirs is called a stroll garden because it invites visitors to relax, enjoy and stroll through it in leisure. There’s something to look at, to get excited about, to photograph everywhere a visitor turns. Since the garden attracts all sorts of wildlife, visitors may spot coyote, fox, owl, raccoon, skunks, snakes, possum and all kinds of birds, including heron, bald eagles and osprey.
The garden is maintained by the Schnormeiers, two or three full-time groundskeepers and a full-time gardener.
“They are extremely good at what they do,” said Ted, “and extremely hard working.”
Since he retired last year, Ted has made a nearly full-time job of supervising the crew, planning new projects and seeing them through to completion. It’s clear he loves every minute of it. He said he previously knew little about gardening, and was never able to indulge in the hobby during his career. But now he shows visitors his prized plants, the Latin botanical names rolling easily off his tongue.
“My interest in gardening developed with the garden,” he explained. Both Ann and Ted have strong artistic natures and the extensive garden is indeed a canvas for their creativity. Ted designs, engineers and helps construct the building projects, including their home, the garden house, the tea house, a pagoda and the other elegant structures that add scale and architectural structure to the gardens.
“We’ve taken common plants and made them uncommon,” said Ted, noting sumac trees that have been trimmed and pruned to show off their usually unseen beautifully twisting branches.
Both common plants made uncommon and rare and unusual plants populate the Woodland Garden, the Chinese Cup Garden, the Serenity Garden and the other distinctive venues. The members of the National Conifer Society were so impressed by the rare conifer garden that they once held their annual meeting there.
Peace, harmony and serenity permeate the garden.
“Color, shape, texture and variety,” said Ted. “A lot of vision, a lot of money, a lot of hard work. And it never ends.”
Then he smiles.
