George Fearon can thank Cheerios for initiating his love of gardening.
When he was 8 years old, the prizes inside the boxes weren't plastic toys or baseball cards. Instead, the cereal came with zenia, cosmo or marigold seeds.
“I grew all three of those,” said Fearon, a Cayuga County legislator and Union Springs school librarian, “and I've never quit since.”
Fearon is featured in the winter edition of People, Places & Plants, a gardening magazine with a 65,000 distribution that covers the New England states and New York. In a section called “Neighborhood Knowledge,” the author describes a desert garden at Fearon's Cayuga home.
Fearon made it into the magazine by pure chance, thanks to a garden tour in Skaneateles that he attended in June.
As he was looking around, he spotted a tree that he thought he recognized - but he wasn't positive. There was a man nearby who seemed knowledgeable, and Fearon asked him if it was, in fact, a Japanese fringe tree.
The man said yes and asked Fearon if he was a landscaper. No, Fearon said, just someone with gardening as a hobby.
And who was he? An editor of a gardening magazine.
“It was one of those freak things,” Fearon recalled, noting that the editor “lit right up when I told him about my orchids in bloom.”
But when the editor decided to visit Fearon's home later that day, he was even more impressed with the desert gardens, where Fearon has tried to replicate the soil and drainage conditions of the Southwest. Fearon grew up in Oklahoma, his wife in Wyoming.
After lots of preparation, he has been able to cultivate prickly pears, yucca and cacti that are more than four feet high.
He has also scattered fossils, petrified wood and rocks throughout the gardens (his father was a geologist).
The varied gardens, which are spread over two acres, contain dozens of different plant species, from orchids to hostas. He also grows a number of herbs and in the past harvested vegetables, which he donated to the food pantry.
“It's a way of relaxing,” Fearon said of his hobby. “Some people go fishing. I get in the dirt.”
Though his gardens are extensive, he's not done yet. There are still improvements he'd like to make, such as the addition of another koi pond.
As for his publicized gardening success, Fearon's normally low-key voice peaked with enthusiasm.
“It's exciting,” Fearon said. “I've never been in a slick magazine before.”
On the Web
To learn more about People, Places & Plants magazine, visit ppplants.com
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
“I grew all three of those,” said Fearon, a Cayuga County legislator and Union Springs school librarian, “and I've never quit since.”
Fearon is featured in the winter edition of People, Places & Plants, a gardening magazine with a 65,000 distribution that covers the New England states and New York. In a section called “Neighborhood Knowledge,” the author describes a desert garden at Fearon's Cayuga home.
Fearon made it into the magazine by pure chance, thanks to a garden tour in Skaneateles that he attended in June.
As he was looking around, he spotted a tree that he thought he recognized - but he wasn't positive. There was a man nearby who seemed knowledgeable, and Fearon asked him if it was, in fact, a Japanese fringe tree.
The man said yes and asked Fearon if he was a landscaper. No, Fearon said, just someone with gardening as a hobby.
And who was he? An editor of a gardening magazine.
“It was one of those freak things,” Fearon recalled, noting that the editor “lit right up when I told him about my orchids in bloom.”
But when the editor decided to visit Fearon's home later that day, he was even more impressed with the desert gardens, where Fearon has tried to replicate the soil and drainage conditions of the Southwest. Fearon grew up in Oklahoma, his wife in Wyoming.
After lots of preparation, he has been able to cultivate prickly pears, yucca and cacti that are more than four feet high.
He has also scattered fossils, petrified wood and rocks throughout the gardens (his father was a geologist).
The varied gardens, which are spread over two acres, contain dozens of different plant species, from orchids to hostas. He also grows a number of herbs and in the past harvested vegetables, which he donated to the food pantry.
“It's a way of relaxing,” Fearon said of his hobby. “Some people go fishing. I get in the dirt.”
Though his gardens are extensive, he's not done yet. There are still improvements he'd like to make, such as the addition of another koi pond.
As for his publicized gardening success, Fearon's normally low-key voice peaked with enthusiasm.
“It's exciting,” Fearon said. “I've never been in a slick magazine before.”
On the Web
To learn more about People, Places & Plants magazine, visit ppplants.com
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
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