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Date: September 29, 1997

Location: Swainton

Title: A Passion for Planting

Author: By Myra Thomas

Subject: A Cape May County couple charges people

to wander through their small piece of Eden.

Section:

Jack and Emily Aprill get up before sunrise on most mornings to prepare Leaming”s Run Gardens for the hundreds of visitors that may show up on a sunny day. The couple”s 20-acre garden in Swainton has the distinction of being one of few privately-owned and for-profit annual gardens in the U.S. Leaming”s Run Gardens has over 10,000 visitors in a season that runs from May to October. The Aprills charge a $4.50 admission for adults, $1.00 for children between the ages of 6 and 12, and those under age 6 are admitted free.

Articles in such diverse magazines as Architectural Digest and Victoria helped spread the word about Leaming”s Run to nature lovers worldwide. Says Jack Aprill: “The reason we get such tremendous publicity is that the garden is just simply different than any other.”

A mile-long walking path at Leaming”s Run Gardens leads past water-lily-filled ponds and dense collections of cinnamon ferns. Hundreds of varieties of annuals fill out the landscape, and set it apart from most other perennial flower gardens, which bloom only in the spring and early summer. The colorful display of flowers lasts the entire length of the season.

Most entrepreneurs would probably never think of taking a passion for gardening and turning it into a business. Jack Aprill decided to make his dream of building an annuals garden a reality in 1972 after he lost his job selling mutual funds and life insurance for now-defunct Reynx-Field.

The couple and their four sons first spent five years clearing some of the land adjacent to the family homestead to build the gardens. The process included digging ponds, laying paths, installing irrigation systems and planting hundreds of varieties of flowers and plants. The Aprills named the gardens after the stream that runs through their property. The stream”s namesake, Thomas Leaming, was a prominent Cape May County whaler and judge, who in 1706 built the house where the Aprills live.

Leaming”s Run Gardens opened to visitors in July 1977, but less than 200 people toured the gardens that first year of operation–and most of the visitors forgot to pay admission. “It took a couple of years for the gardens to catch on,” admits Emily Aprill. The Cooperage, the couple”s dried flower shop that Emily Aprill started in the late 1960s, helped to support the family until word-of-mouth among nature lovers got around.

Nancy Morin, executive director of the American Association of Botanical Gardens & Arboreta in Wayne, Pennsylvania, says it is extremely rare to find a privately-owned garden. Despite the challenges, the Aprills say that they have made their business work without federal or state funding. Says Jack Aprill: “We decided we wouldn”t become a tax-free garden. If a tourist attraction isn”t good enough to attract enough people to support it, then there isn”t a whole lot of sense in having it.”

It is also rare to find a public garden with a staff as small as the one at Leaming”s Run. Emily Aprill and a part-time employee operate the Cooperage, while Jack Aprill and son Gregg plant and maintain the gardens. Says Jack Aprill: “Any other garden of this size would have at least 15 employees.”

The worst thing for business at any garden is a rainy day. Last year”s wet summer season hit Leaming”s Run Gardens hard. “We were closed 27 days,” says Emily Aprill. This year”s sunny summer improved the prospects for profits.

Linda Mysliwy Conlin, director of the state”s Division of Travel and Tourism, says that the gardens are “fast becoming one of our more popular spots for in- and out-of-state visitors.” Now if only something could be done to guarantee that every summer will be as sunny as this year.

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Caption: Jack and Emily Aprill combine their vocation and avocation