Garden Gate closes 2025 with annual year-in-review quiz

Welcome, everyone. As is our annual custom for the last get-together at the Garden Gate for 2025, we’ve scrambled together a goofy quiz from this year’s previous columns. Thanks to my staff of trusty research assistants: home gnome Gene Gnome and visiting holiday guest Leif Elfshelffson, who hails from the frigid fjords of Norway in an area called Pulpit Rock in Lysefjord. 

Enough about us – have fun with our last get-together of the year. Good luck!

Answers can be found in the Dec. 18 print edition of Medina Weekly.

1. John Chapman (1774–1845) was better known as A) Davy Crockett; B) Johnny Appleseed; C) Ichabod Crane.

2. Medina has proudly been a "Tree City USA" for how many years? A) 43; B) 39; C) 52.

3. The term “natural organic reduction” means what? A) human composting; B) no-till approach to garden soil; C) consuming more processed foods, less organic.

4. The Chatham Volunteer Fireman’s Association Sugar Bush Pancake and Sausage feast is held every weekend of which month? A) April; B) March; C) October.

5. This plant is the state flower of Alabama, Kentucky and Nebraska: A) sunflower; B) goldenrod; C) butterfly milkweed.

6. The 81st annual meeting of the Medina County Soil and Water Conservation District was held Nov. 13 where? A) Medina County Career Center; B) Williams on the Lake; C) Buffalo Creek Retreat.

7. Karla Sayre of the Medina County Herb Society says their meetings are held monthly on the fourth Tuesday where? A) Community Center; B) A.I. Root meeting room; C) Methodist Church Sharon Center.

8. November has two birth flowers. One is chrysanthemum. What is the other? A) dahlias; B) peony; C) stonecrop sedum.

9. At this year’s Medina County Fair, the judge for vegetable entries in the Agriculture Department was A) Bill Richardson of Richardson Farms; B) Patti Boyert of Boyert Greenhouse; C) Karl Gerhard of “Cooking with Karl.”

10. Union Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaimed A) “… all slaves are free”; B) “Four score and seven years ago”; C) “Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.”

11. The sea holly (eryngium), a perennial plant resembling a thistle, is what color? A) bright red; B) blue; C) multicolored.

12. The Balm of Gilead is what? A) ancient tree-produced frankincense and myrrh; B) Australian reggae band; C) salve for your ailing gilead.

13. Pak choi plants grew more leaves with more root volume when listening to which type of music? A) classical; B) rock/heavy metal; C) country.

14. The word “muddle” refers to what? A) gently pressing or twisting to release essential oils of herbs; B) word for gardening in mud; C) name of planting bed for cranberries.

15. If you’re experiencing nutrient dilution, that means A) decline in nutrient content in fruits, vegetables and grains; B) eating too much gas station sushi; C) be more like Popeye – eat more spinach.

16. East Liverpool, my hometown, is on the banks of which river? A) Black River; B) Muskingum River; C) Ohio River.

17. If you are growing Camellia sinensis, what is it? A) rare expensive orchids; B) this was illegal a few years back; C) a cold-hardy variety of tea plant.

18. Unpopped corn kernels are called what? A) hen’s teeth; B) dentist appointments; C) old maids.

19. What are you doing in Buñol, Spain, on the last Wednesday in August? A) running with the bulls; B) La Tomatina, the tomato-throwing festival; C) citywide stomping of the grape harvest.

20. What is green manure? A) cover crop like winter rye; B) goose droppings; C) synthetic fertilizers.

21. The Medina County Extension office held Medina County Agriculture Day to acquaint students with agricultural careers. Which school attended and where was it held? A) Medina High School at Buckeye Woods Park; B) Cloverleaf Middle School at Geig’s Apple Orchard; C) Wadsworth Middle School at the Medina Fairgrounds.

22. What is “cat grass”? A) grass for golf-course putting greens; B) ornamental grass in the African savannah; C) mixture of cereal grasses.

23. Thomas DeCastra recently won the Conservation Community Member 2025 Award from the Medina County SWCD. Thomas hates doing which task? A) cutting his grass; B) shoveling snow; C) pulling weeds.

24. Thanks to the Community Supported Agriculture program through Richardson Farms, Pat and I ate what for the first time? A) purple cauliflower; B) white-skin eggplant; C) ground cherries.

25. Bavarian brewers brewed bilsenkraut (beer lettuce). What did they add to their brews? A) henbane; B) ganja leaves; C) lavender buds.

26. Extra credit: Amanda Shenberger, Medina County Fair Board Chief Administrative Officer and lovingly known as the “Madam Mayor of Medina Fair,” attended which Medina County high school? A) Medina; B) Cloverleaf; C) Buckeye.

    
    That’s it. Blessings to all in the Garden Nation. Thank you to the Medina Weekly for allowing me this space, and most importantly, thanks to you – the loyal readers. Until next year: peace on Earth and goodwill toward all.