Grand Forks resident Mary Lou Liddy discusses the sentimental value and history behind different plants
Grand Forks resident Mary Lou Liddy’s garden
Grand Forks resident Mary Lou Liddy waters her garden
Grand Forks resident Karen Ford finishes watering her garden
Karen Ford and Mary Lou Liddy each have nurtured gardens that put their personalities on display.
Every family antique placed among Liddy’s sea of green plants and blossoming flowers recalls a childhood memory or a friend long gone.
Ford can point to any bird bath, fountain or landscaped terrace and recall a Mother’s Day her two sons and husband surprised her with a new addition to her garden.
Their personalities and the work they each have put into their gardens will be on display, along with four other private gardens, for all to see Saturday and Sunday as part of the Grand Forks Horticulture Society’s 2013 Garden Tour.
Anne Smith, a spokeswoman for the society, said the event is a way to introduce horticulture to the community.
“Spectators get a great opportunity to travel around the area and view beautiful gardens,” she said. “It is also a great way for other gardens to take the ideas they see and carry them over into their gardens.”
Three gardens from Grand Forks, including Liddy’s and Ford’s, and three gardens from East Grand Forks will featured in this year’s event.
Unique oases
Smith said the Garden Tour sets out to recognize the individuality found in each garden.
“No two gardens are the same,” Smith said. “We want people to see these gardens and be inspired to take certain aspects and make them their own.”
In addition to the antiques, Liddy’s backyard garden is lined with an uncommon assortment of plants.
Morning glories waiting to blossom are followed by old cacti, a patch of cucumbers, cabbage and other vegetables.
“Who wants a perfect garden?” Liddy said. “It may not all make sense, but I just like throwing things in the ground and seeing if it works out. I’d say it has.”
Ford said she takes a similar attitude towards her gardening, learning as she goes and trying new things each year.
“I didn’t even think anyone saw my garden, so I never thought in a thousand years it would be chosen for something like this,” she said. “This is just something I do, so for it to be picked is a huge surprise.”
Crammed into a small lot behind her house, Ford’s garden is full of plants and flowers arranged and decorated using ideas she got from Pinterest or fellow gardeners.
She seemed to follow a red, white and blue theme, as blue beer bottles hang from branches and red flowers add an extra flair to the jam-packed garden.
Standing out from the crowd is a tower of black-eyed Susans tucked away in the corner, a part of the garden Ford said she greatly admires.
Therapy
While the flowers planted and memories scattered across their respective gardens may differ, Liddy and Ford will both say they garden for one simple reason.
Gardening is therapy.
For Liddy, she began gardening more than 20 years ago to relieve the stress of her busy life providing home care for seniors throughout the region.
“I think sometimes when I come out here I don’t think about anything else,” she said.
Ford’s home was hit badly by the 1997 flood and water filled her newly renovated basement. After the water receded and the damage assessed, Ford needed to begin something new. So she turned to gardening.
“It was just a way for me to get away and begin something new,” Ford said. “I needed positive focus.”
If you go
The Grand Forks Horticulture Society’s Garden Tour and plant sale starts at the Myra Museum, 2405 Belmont Road, Grand Forks.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The Plant Doctor will be there 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Tickets are $10 and will be sold Saturday and Sunday at the museum, Tim Shea’s Nursery Landscaping, All Seasons Garden Center and Home of Economy, all in Grand Forks; Hardware Hanks in East Grand Forks; and Wagner’s Landscaping in Fisher, Minn.
Proceeds go towards enhancing area parks.
Info: Myra Museum, (701) 775-2216.
Call Ashlock at (701) 780-1137; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1137; or send email to aashlock@gfherald.com.
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