WOODS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE

Continued from page 9 until I got a stable, all-gold plant.” Shade-loving canary wings have bright red flowers that contrast beautifully with their unique yellowish leaves, and after patenting the plant, Jared partnered with a major seed company to bring it to market. Today, canary wings begonias are sold internationally, and at Groovy Plants Ranch, they practically fly off the shelves.

If its vast plant selection weren’t enough, Groovy Plants Ranch also offers a potpourri of far-out experiences. Customers get to shop for premium seeds and arty greeting cards in an 1869 schoolhouse or relish planting something green and gorgeous at the Potter’s Saloon. Featuring an open bar, the self-serve saloon has two kinds of soil on tap — Jungle Boogie for house plants and True Grit for succulents and cacti. A la Simon and Garfunkel, the Hugheses have created a groovy-feelin’ oasis where people come to slow down and watch the flowers growin’. “We are very intentionally taking a different approach to the typical garden center model,” says Jared, “and we always have unique and unusual plants to sell.”

Groovy Plants Ranch, 4140 County Road 15, Marengo, OH 43334. 740-675-2681; www.groovyplantsranch.com.

Customers can pot their own plants at Groovy Plants Ranch’s Potter’s Saloon, which has different soils on tap for anything from house plants to succulents and cacti.

WOODS, WATERS, AND WILDLIFE

OHIO’S AMERICAN INDIAN HISTORY Writ large

COURTESY OF OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION

The Battle of Fallen Timbers ended the fight over the Northwest Territory.

BY W.H. “CHIP” GROSS

Of the many paintings hanging in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, the largest by far measures 22 feet long by 16 feet high and is titled The Signing of the Treaty of Green Ville. Completed in 1945 by artist Howard Chandler Christy, the painting depicts the historic 1795 meeting at Fort Greenville (today’s Greenville, Ohio) between Little Turtle, chief of the Miami Tribe, and General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, representing the United States.

Setting the scene

At the end of the Revolutionary War, England ceded to the fledgling USA ownership of the Northwest Territory — an immense area north and west of the Ohio River that would one day become five states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as part of Minnesota. The major problem with the agreement was that it completely ignored tens of thousands of indigenous people who were already living on that land — from dozens of major tribes — who were not about to give up their claims on the land without a fight. The resulting decade-long conflict was known as the Northwest Indian War, and the final fight of that conflict took place on Aug. 20, 1794, near the banks of the Maumee River. The tribesmen had ensconced themselves in a large area of downed, jumbled trees that had been blown over by a tornado. Realizing that an attack on the fallen timbers would be a suicide mission, Wayne needed a ruse to draw the opposition out into the open. He ordered 500 mounted riflemen to approach the area and engage briefly, then fall back in apparent chaos and confusion. The enemy took the bait, pouring from the downed woods in pursuit of the retreating cavalry — only to be met head-on by the main body of the army. In truth, both sides suffered roughly an equal number of casualties — about 100 total — but the tribes saw it as a crushing defeat, and their chiefs began entreating Wayne for peace almost immediately. He accepted their requests, encouraging them to attend a peace council scheduled for the following summer. The result of that weeks-long gathering, attended by more than 3,000 — including 91 chiefs of various tribes — was the historic Treaty of Greenville, as depicted on Christy’s painting, which opened the Ohio country to white settlements.

Email Chip Gross at whchipgross@gmail.com with your outdoors questions. Be sure to include “Ask Chip” in the subject line. Your question may be answered on www.ohiocoopliving.com!

Historic site

The actual location of the battlefield, near the intersection of U.S. 24 and U.S. 23/I-475, was not discovered until 1995, by G. Michael Pratt, an anthropologist and faculty member at Heidelberg College. Today, Fallen Timbers Battlefield consists of three sites: Fallen Timbers Battlefield, Fallen Timbers Monument, and Fort Miamis. It’s owned, operated, and managed by Metroparks Toledo, and has been designated a National Historic Site and an Affiliated Unit of the National Park Service.

W.H. “Chip” Gross is Ohio Cooperative Living’s outdoors editor. For more, click on https://metroparkstoledo.com/ explore-your-parks.