The Coles County Historical Society presented Wesley Whiteside’s Garden Ramble Memorial Day weekend, which invited guests to see many rare plants from around the Midwest.

Whiteside, a retired botany faculty member from Eastern, bought the land in 1960, which did not include any trees.

Without a landscape plan, Whiteside began planting trees on his land.

“I mostly planted little plants or grew plants in seed,” Whiteside said.

Whiteside said his Big Leaf Magnolia plants are rarely cultivated in the Midwest.

The Big Leaf Magnolia has huge flowers and large leaves, Whiteside said. Just a few days before the garden ramble, a windstorm arrived and blew over this flower, but it was still on display.

“This southern exotic has a small disjunctive population in southern Mexico,” Whiteside said. “I’ve had good success, but I think I’m still learning about it.”

Whiteside focused his presentation on his Venus flytrap plants, which are natives of North and South Carolina.

“It’s estimated about 150,000 plants growing in the wild occupying 150 sites,” Whiteside said. “There’s been a decrease in the number because large numbers of plants have been collected to be sold as horticultural subjects.”

Whiteside said fire has also destroyed many of these plants in the wild, but because of horticulture, these plants are being propagated by tissue culture.

This is being done in Holland and the plants are being shipped to the United States, Whiteside said.

While the Venus Fly Trap has become a trial-and-error plant for Whiteside, he found this plant to be able to withstand winters.

“Even though they’re pretty hardy, I would put a covering on them, either pine needles or straw-maybe an inch or so,” Whiteside said. “When it comes to watering, I would use rain water, distilled water or water from a dehumidifier. Don’t use water from a well.”

Kathy Garrett, vendor for Ewe Poo Compost, came to see the garden, and she said she enjoyed the peacefulness.

Garrett said she enjoys seeing the parents bring their children to look at Whitehead’s garden.

“I enjoyed the beauty of the flowers,” Garrett said. “I’ve done a lot of garden walks in Coles County; it’s neat to see all the people here.”

Jim Weursch, owner and operator of 5-Acre Farm Daylilies in Charleston, works closely with Whiteside in marketing his plants.

“When he finds a plant that’s good enough, we look at it and see if it’s worthy of being introduced,” Weursch said.

The process of marketing a horticulture plant is a four-step process.

First, Whiteside and Weursch look at the plant, and then they register it.

The plant is then grown and marketed to the public.

“A lot of plants get reproduced in the lab,” Weursch said. “You start with a seed, then you divide the crown every fall until you get all you want of it, and then you market it.”

Each step of the plant goes through the American Hemerocallis Society, which names everything from the plant to the eight-page registration form, Weursch said.

Weursch said Whiteside has three more plants that may be ready to be released sometime in the near future.

“He specializes in late season daylilies, so his plants will bloom after most daylilies are out of bloom,” Weursch said. “We have introduced five plants and he has Charleston in the name of all of them.”

Jennifer Brown can be reached at 581-7942 or jebrown2@eiu.edu.