Garden tour in full bloom
The first ever Growing in Greene Garden Tour is ready to take to the road Saturday morning to visit three local gardeners who have thrown open their gates for visitors and will be on hand to tell how they did it and share what they have learned about making beauty happen in their own back yards.
“I wanted to do something to benefit the Greene County Food Bank and I had friends with beautiful gardens who were generous enough to be part of this first tour,” said Dawn Phillips, owner of Mother Earth Farm, 610 Apple Hill Road, who organized the tour.
“People have been signing up on our Facebook page and anyone who wants to go can come to the farm tomorrow at 9 a.m. and join us,” she said.
“My garden is totally organic and I have flowering trees and shrubs … and daylilies,” Lisa Schwartz of Waynesburg said. Her cozy town garden features 50 species of daylilies that might not be at their absolute peak because of this year’s weather but are still no less than spectacular for sheer variety.
Garden two belongs to fellow daylily enthusiast Jan Shipe, whose collection tops 100 varieties and whose larger country garden also has a beautiful water feature to admire.
Mark and Debra McCurdy’s flowers, trees, fountains, paths and edible plants are to be found surrounding their stately, turn of the last century home on a tree lined street in Rogersville.
“I think of it as a woodland garden although it takes an effort to make it look like it just happened,” Mark McCurdy admitted. “There is no lawn, only pathways and plants. A little girl who walks by it with her mom calls it the secret garden. The flowers merge with herbs and salad greens and nine varieties of tomato plants, some of them heirloom. I find it rather Zen in a way, and therapeutic. It’s a great place to sit in the morning and drink coffee. We always invite the neighbors to stop by and enjoy it too.”
Each car gets a map that will lead participants to these gardens in staggered order and the tour will conclude at about noon, hopefully well ahead of the rain that is expected in the afternoon. Tickets are a $7 donation and up to five persons per vehicle get a discount price of $16, Phillips said. “A group of master gardeners have signed up to go. The best part is we’ll have a chance to talk and share gardening tips, besides seeing what beautiful things others have done in their gardens.”
For more information, or to reserve a ticket, call 724-986-1550.