“Garden Doug Z,” also known as Doug Zimmer, cultivates many varieties of plants in his gardens at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania.
His craft is to provide Shawnee Inn guests with the freshest farm-to-table produce and vegetables.
Zimmer is the lead gardener at Shawnee Inn, formerly Buckwood Inn, a historic inn with a well-established reputation for extraordinary customer service and lodging and championship golf courses. The Shawnee Inn guests know today is due in part to visionary Charles Campbell Worthington. According to Shawnee Inn history, Worthington was an engineer and inventor by trade, who never enjoyed urban living. Soon, after discovering the great outdoors at Shawnee on Delaware, he relocated to this quaint, small village in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and “made his mark in the community.” Current owners, Charles and Ginny Kirkwood and their family, are also advocates for sustainability and preserving natural resources.
Garden Doug Z is an experienced gardener and is highly-regarded for his vast knowledge of horticulture. He carries on the Shawnee tradition of “fresh food from the gardens on premises” and outsourcing, only as needed, from nearby farms.
Here’s a quote from the Shawnee Inn history archives.
“The food served in the dining room came fresh from gardens on the premises and nearby farms, an on-site creamery provided fresh milk, cream and butter and drinking water of the purest quality was gravity-fed directly into each room,” according to Shawnee Inn history.
I met Zimmer in early June, while I was a glamping guest at Shawnee Inn. Upon meeting him, I asked my host, Kaitlyn O’Connor, Shawnee marketing coordinator, if I could interview him and snap some photos of Doug alongside his various gardens. Little did I know, he is also the lone gardener.
Zimmer quickly noted, “It’s really not hard to be the lead gardener when you’re the only gardener.”
Sure, he gets help from management when he needs it, but Zimmer added, “I’m pretty much on my own a lot of the times. Today, I needed help with tilling.”
Meet Garden Doug Z, (Doug Zimmer) lead gardener at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort. Zimmer cultivates the inn’s on-site herb and vegetable gardens. Photos by Joan Mead-Matsui, travel writer, journalist and photographer.
What is the origin of his nickname?
He said, “Some girls gave me the nickname Garden Doug Z.”
How many acres does he farm?
He’s not sure, but I can attest that rows of vegetables and herbs are methodically interspersed in several tracts of land that border the Shawnee golf course. One of his gardens is situated along the golf course, with a spectacular view of the Delaware River.
“I can tell you how I grew tomato plants 30 years ago but I really have a problem with people’s names and acres.”
Garden Doug Z is shown in the middle of one of the gardens he plants and methodically cultivates at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, PA.
Elephant garlic, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, and kale are among the varieties of vegetables he plants and cultivates each year.
All of his plants are grown from seed but he noted he is also blessed to have access to a greenhouse. “We don’t bring out the plants (from the greenhouse) until the weather settles down.”
Intrigued by herbs
As we moved to the herb garden that was brimming with healthy, nurtured plants, Zimmer graciously handed me a sample of his “Mountain Mint” crop that flourishes in his herb garden.
“The medicinal property of the mint is it’s an “antispasmodic,” he said.
And as he pointed to the chamomile, he explained,
“I think I’m happy and sedate enough that I don’t need the chamomile, but I’m very intrigued by medicinal plants. There’s an actual sedative in that stuff and that’s pretty cool.”
His affinity for horticulture developed at a young age.
“I couldn’t eat an apple without planting the seeds,” he said.
Obsessed with gardening
Zimmer admits his gardening is a compulsion.
He quipped, “I had it so bad in years past when I put all of my tropical, succulents, and jade plants inside for the winter. I couldn’t sit in my living room. I couldn’t get into my spare bedroom. So, two years back, I said to myself, ‘Doug, this is a sickness and you’ve got to have a 12-step program.”
Zimmer is a generous soul
He’s also known for giving plants away and converting a lot of people who believe they have a “brown thumb.” His advice to those folks is “You’re just a beginner and you’re growing the wrong plants. I have some plants for you that are hard to kill unless you put them in the oven at 350 (degrees).”
Zimmer shares Shawnee Inn founder’s love for the outdoors and fresh produce and vegetables harvested on-site.
“You reap what you have sown”
Sustainability is widely practiced at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort and Zimmer’s goal is to utilize more seeds from his gardens and use natural compost materials to ensure the gardens are as organic as possible.
“We use composted leaves and mix some of the (ShawneeCraft) brewery stuff in there,” Zimmer said. “It’s definitely the compost that makes a difference.”
Taste trumps everything
While heirlooms are very fickle to grow, Zimmer plans to add other heirloom cultivars of tomatoes to his repertoire. Ultimately, taste is the deciding factor that trumps everything.
“If it tastes good, I’ll bend over backward to get that. I’m very proud of that. Through the years, it (the plant) has got to evolve.”
I met Doug Zimmer, also known as “Garden Doug Z,” while I was on assignment at Shawnee Inn for visitpoconos.com.
Learn more about menus at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort here.
Tim MacMichael often falls asleep at night listening to soothing music from an app he installed on his phone. On May 25, Mother Nature provided the sleep-inducing background melodies Tim heard while he drifted off to sleep at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort Riverside Glamping. The inn is located in Shawnee on Delaware in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.
“They were great sleeping sounds,” Tim said on May 26 as he and his wife, Christine MacMichael, Warren, NJ, sipped coffee on the deck next to their bell tent.
Tim and Christine have been guests at historic Shawnee Inn probably four times, according to Tim, but when they received emails promoting Island and Riverside Glamping, Christine said, “That made me want to try it.”
“We heard the tree frogs, crickets, the water lapping in against the shoreline, and some woodpeckers and other birds chirping towards the morning,” Christine noted.
Tim and Christine MacMichael, Warren, NJ, watched activity on the Delaware River from their deck on the Shawnee Inn Riverside Glamping site.
Rather than lug their tent and camping supplies to a camping site, they decided to focus on a more relaxing and convenient alternative known as glamping or boutique camping.
What is glamping?
It’s glamorous or luxurious camping that’s synonymous with resort-style services that are not associated with traditional camping. Shawnee Inn offered Tim and Christine the convenience and luxury of a room in the inn with the added pleasure of connecting to the outdoors.
Guests can choose from two boutique camping options: Shawnee Island Glamping, a secluded experience on a remote island in the middle of the Delaware River that’s only accessible by canoe and Shawnee Riverside Glamping on a semi-secluded tract of land on the north lawn of the resort that overlooks the scenic Delaware River. High-speed Wi-Fi, a queen-size day bed, electricity, coffee maker, refrigerator, lantern, fan, radio, and full access to resort amenities are standard comforts that enabled Tim and Christine to rough it in style.
Upon their arrival at the Riverside site, they found their queen-sized bed dressed with luxurious linens, an extraordinarily comfortable mattress, and white fluffy pillows.
Christine commented after a restful night’s sleep, “The bed, blankets, and pillows were so comfortable. Everything is so well done and luxurious. Glamping here is a lot easier and more convenient (than camping) and we love it.”
“We’d absolutely do it again,” Tim said. We just pack an overnight bag and that’s it.”
To reserve your bell tent at Shawnee Inn, visit shawneeinn.comor call 1-800-742-9633
Tim and Christine MacMichael savor the view from their glamping site at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort.
Romance can be found in the peaceful hours of the morning.
Shawnee Inn sanctuary
Awaken early to catch a glimpse of the dew on the Delaware River.
Travel writer finds her solitude at Shawnee Inn Riverside Glamping
The view from the glamping site is ever-changing, but it’s always spectacular.
