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Learn, Enjoy with Summer Garden Tours

By Jennifer Johnson

Garden Tours have much to offer even the busiest of gardeners. Take a leisurely walk through someone else's garden, discuss problem areas with other gardeners who have "been there," and ask local experts such as Master Gardeners your pressing gardening questions. Look for exciting new plants, low-maintenance landscape strategies, or new ideas for irrigation and mulch. In South Sound, there are at least three local garden tours to offer gardeners, want-to-be gardeners, and the people who love them, new ideas to make changes to well-worn gardening habits.

The Gig Harbor Garden Tour is June 28th and 29th and features eight gardens. Themes include perennial, waterfront, historic and farm gardens. Ciscoe Morris is a featured presenter and local nurseries offer classes to complement the tour. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 the day of the tour and go on sale in April. Contact 253-460-2399 or www.gigharborguide.com for more information.

Mason County's annual Garden Tour is on July 12, 2008 and features eight gardens throughout Mason County. Master Gardener volunteers will be on hand at each garden to help answer questions. Vendors will be at some of the gardens, as well as an artist in one garden. Tickets are available in June for $12 at nurseries, florists, and other locations in Mason County. Call Margie Plebuch for more information at 360-426-2827.

The tour that I am most familiar with is our very own, Garden Rhapsodies Tour. This unique garden tour blends education, art, and music, and features styles for every gardener's taste and budget. Visitors will see waterfront gardens, low-maintenance privacy screenings, ground covers crawling over impressive hardscapes and an incredible hilltop oasis. Featured gardens utilize many Common Sense Gardening techniques such as compost to build healthy soil, native and drought-resistant plants, and the replacement of toxic pesticides with traps, weed pullers, and other less-toxic methods.

Throughout the gardens and at the shuttle site at Griffin School, participants can learn from hands-on demonstrations, enjoy live music, and observe artists create new works inspired by the gardens.

Tickets for the Garden Rhapsodies Tour are $15 and include a free shuttle bus to all of the gardens. Tickets are on sale after July 4 at Thurston County nurseries, Olympia Federal Savings bank branches, and the Olympia Farmers Market. Monies raised benefit the supporting non-profits.

The Garden Rhapsodies Tour is a unique partnership between the Thurston County Health Department, Stream Team, City of Olympia, Washington State University Master Gardeners, Thurston County Master Gardener Foundation, Native Plant Salvage Foundation, and the Olympia Symphony Guild. If you need more information on Garden Rhapsodies, contact Jennifer Johnson at (360) 754-3355 ext. 7631.

See you in the gardens!

Jennifer Johnson is an Environmental Educator for Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department, and the primary coordinator of the Garden Rhapsodies Tour.

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