The Campbell River Garden and Art Tour, with 10 gardens open to the public on the weekend of July 7 and 8, offers something for everyone. Beautiful landscaping ideas abound on this tour, along with some specialty themes like creative approaches to composting.
A regular on the tour is the Comox Strathcona Waste Management’s Compost Education Centre, which provides a huge amount of information about green approaches to gardening.
Educator Elaine Jansen, known as the ‘Compost Diva,’ said more and more people want to learn about environ-mentally-aware gardening.
“We are swamped,” she said. “When I started seven years ago, we would see maybe seven people a week. Last year, almost 5,000 people came through.”
Visitors will be able to tour the community gardens as well as the Compost Education Centre. They’ll also be able to see what Jansen and Waste Education Contract Educator Gayle Bates have created for a new recycled art display.
Ecological gardening is also the key for mother-son gardening duo Mary and John Palmer, whose four acre Oyster River property is also featured on the tour. Mary has lived on the property for 40 years and in recent years, all lawns were removed from the four acre site.
“We decided we don’t want to deal with lawns anymore, so we removed them,” John said. “We made the decision for ecological reasons and just turned to gravel instead.”
A peaceful Japanese-style garden with pond replaces the front lawn, and Mary said that it’s now one of her favourite spots. The Palmers also don’t have any garbage pick-up – they recycle and compost virtually everything and have even built concrete bunkers for compost.
Of the four acres, two-and-a-half are managed woodlands, while the rest is what they describe as a “collector’s garden.”
“A collector loves individual plants and wants to make a home for them,” John said.
“For example,” added Mary, “I decided I liked hostas so I bought a hosta, and the next thing I knew I had 30 hostas.”
Mary added that she loves native plants and prefers to let them flourish alongside the rhodos, hostas and other plants she adores.
“Some people have a shrub here and a shrub there with bark mulch in between, well not me,” she said with a laugh.
Their green approach also applies to wildlife. After years of trying to think of ways to keep deer away, they finally gave in and simply fenced off the Japanese garden, and leave the rest for deer, rabbits and squirrels to visit as they like.
“If a deer takes a nibble from a rhodo leaf, well so what?” Mary said.
In recent years, Mary has developed a passion for orchids and now spends a huge amount of time watering and caring for her collection of around 100. The Palmers plan to display some of those beauties on tour day!
Ron and Bo LaFleur’s garden is also a feast for the eyes, springing forth from the rich earth created by Ron, who was crowned The Compost King in a City competition a few years ago.
Ron has a wealth of tips for building beautifully textured soil in a short time span.
Tickets for the Garden and Art Tour, which is sponsored by Royal LePage Campbell River, are available at the Campbell River Art Gallery, the Willows Market, the Visitor Information Centre and the Comox Valley Art Gallery. Tickets are $15 and the self-guided tour runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both July 7 and 8. Call 250-287-2261 for more information.
The Campbell River Community Centre is offering a bus tour, for $20 including your ticket, on Saturday, July 7 only. Call 250-286-1161 for details.
Speak Your Mind