Community News

LOCAL GARDENS SHAPING UP FOR TOUR

Bill James' cottage garden on Stuart Street in Guelph will likely look a little different on the day of the Guelph Horticultural Society's Garden Showcase on Sunday, June 11.

With various flowers blooming at different times throughout the season, every two or three weeks it's a new garden, said James.

The annual Garden Showcase event is a self-driven garden tour that runs rain or shine from 1 to 5:30 p.m., with an early 12:30 p.m. start for the out-of-town gardens.

even private gardens as well as one public garden will be featured on this year's tour, which also includes musicians, artists, and master gardeners at various sites.

Tickets are available at Blooms + Flora, 182 Woolwich St., Brock Road Nursery, 1858 Gordon St., Royal City Nursery, 6838 Wellington Road 124, or on the day of the tour at any of the following showcase gardens:

4559 CONCESSION RD. 11, PUSLINCH — LYANNE SCHLICHTER

A private three-acre garden carved from the neighbouring farm, that includes perennial and pollinator-friendly beds, a native Carolinian woodland, an alpine rock garden, a pond, waterfall, vegetable, fruit bushes, and more.

25 FARNHAM RD., PUSLINCH — ARLENE AND BARRY DAWN

A giant bonsai where wrens make their home, a sizable vegetable garden, and perennial beds are among the highlights of this pesticide and herbicide-free garden that supports the owners' beekeeping and participation in a monarch butterfly program.

36 STUART ST. — BILL JAMES

This cottage garden evolved as the grandchildren of James and his late wife Lyn wore paths into the lawn that was there when they purchased the house in the 1980s. The now stone pathways meander through flower beds filled with the likes of Scottish heather, bluebell, rhododendron, alpenrose, crocosmia, cosmos, and South African Cyperus.

388 STEVENSON ST. N. — AMY AND DAVE MARTIN

This property boasts not one, but two rain gardens, created with support and advice from the city. The first is a sunny rain garden in the front yard, featuring sun-loving plants like Joe-pye weed, black-eyed Susan and coneflowers. The second improved a wet, shady backyard area with astilbe, Siberian bugloss, and false spirea.

125 RIVERVIEW DR. — MARTINA PREECE AND GERRY O.

This garden belonging to nature lovers, birders and paddlers features a wide variety of colourful perennials welcoming to birds, pollinators and humans alike. While the front yard is public, the backyard is a private sanctuary, with space to read and dine under the shade of the trees.

22 KITCHENER AVE. — KAY AND PHIL WEAVER

Magnificent spruce trees surrounding the garden attracted the Weavers to this home, where they have expanded the gardens as a labour of love, with help from their grandson. The private oasis now features 300 pollinator-friendly plants, a patio and a gazebo.

25 KITCHENER AVE. — LINDA READY AND IAN CAMPBELL

Extensive shade from original trees planted around 1950 created an opportunity to establish a park-like setting, which now features an abundance of colourful annuals mixed with many perennial favourites. Just steps from Riverside park, this garden also enjoys many "nature visitors," including a blue heron, a red fox and an endless variety of birds.

JOHN GALT POLLINATOR GARDEN, RIVERSIDE PARK — ELAINE HARRIS AND GHS VOLUNTEERS

This garden near Speedvale Avenue, was initially designed in the 1960s as five beds in the shape of a hand. Observed from

the south, the first two beds, nearest the river, now hold a variety of shade-loving perennials. The next bed contains lilacs, underplanted with bachelor's button, lungwort and annual sunflowers, and the last two beds hold a collection of sun-lovers, such as coneflower, black-eyed Susan, and phlox. It is described as "a delight for our pollinators throughout the growing season."

For more information, including a map and complete descriptions of the gardens, visit guelphhort.org.

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2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

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