A Findlay lifer
Roger has called Findlay home all his life. He is a graduate of Findlay High School, which named him one of its Distinguished Alumni in 2022.
About
Earth, sand & ink
Roger Powell has spent his life in Findlay, Ohio, shaping things with his hands — gardens, for many years a mountain of Easter sand, and lines of ink on paper.
Photo coming soon
Fifty years of shaping land
In 1975 Roger founded Whole Earth Greenery, and he has worked as a landscape architect and designer ever since — more than 45 years of laying out yards, gardens and green spaces around Hancock County. After three decades he sold the landscaping side of the business but kept designing and running the nursery, today called Powell Nursery & Landscape Design.
Keeper of bees
Roger is a beekeeper, too. He sells raw local honey and works to protect the pollinators that every garden depends on.
Sand at Easter
From 1999 to 2016, Roger spent every Holy Week sculpting tons of sand into a scene of the crucifixion and resurrection — first in Riverside Park, later at the Hancock County Fairgrounds. It was free, it had no sponsor, and it was open to people of every faith. Thousands came, and hundreds gathered for the sunrise services on Easter morning.
Pen, ink — and coffee
At the drawing table Roger works in pen and ink, and in a medium that is very much his own: coffee and ink. A spill or a cup ring becomes the starting point, and he draws over the stain in ink until a picture appears. He is a photographer as well.
Honors
- April 14, 2022“Roger Powell Day”, proclaimed by the City of Findlay
- 2022Distinguished Alumni, Findlay High School
Soil, sand or paper, the thread is the same: take what’s underfoot and shape it into something that brings people together. As Roger puts it — we all walk on common ground.