Submitted

June 11, 2013 3:24PM

The Fox River is the backdrop for the large yard belonging to Jeremy and Ruth Porter. Their garden and four others can be viewed on Saturday, June 22, during the Yorkville Garden Walk. | Submitted

Updated: June 11, 2013 8:16PM

The Fox River is the backdrop for Jeremy and Ruth Porter’s large yard. Their property is lined with fruit trees, perennials, shrubs and mature trees, and the landscaping leading from the house to the river is the perfect place to linger and reflect on the scenery.

Their garden and four others can be viewed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 22, during Yorkville’s Garden Walk. Tickets are $10 each before the day of the walk and $12 that day. Tickets are available through the Garden Club’s website www.yorkvillegardenclub.org.

This year the “Garden Junction Boutique” will feature gifts for purchase at several homes on the walk. Select from aprons for children, stepping stones and hummingbird feeders. New this year is a raffle featuring a basket with items donated by Winding Creek Nursery and from the Garden Club’s Garden Junction Boutique.

Tickets for the Garden Walk may be purchased at the following places:

Yorkville Flower Shoppe, 216 S. Bridge St., Yorkville

Yorkville Public Library, 902 Game Farm Road, Yorkville

Caring Hands Thrift Store, 1002 S. Bridge St., Yorkville

Winding Creek Nursery, 8241 Millbrook Roa, Millbrook

Lizzie’s Garden, 24254 111th St., Naperville

www.Yorkvillegardenclub.org

To learn more, call 630-553-8949 or www.yorkvillegardenclub.org. No strollers.

The Yorkville Garden Club was founded in February 1995 by a group of friends who shared a love of flowers and gardening. Members continue that love of flowers and gardening and strive to make a difference in the community.

The Yorkville Garden Club offers two annual scholarships, and the scholarship fund is supported solely through the Garden Walk every two years. The club meets at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month February through November at 215 Hillcrest Ave., Yorkville. The annual membership fee is $20.

• 

SEO Desk logo

(PRWEB UK) 12 June 2013

House of Landscaping is very proud to announce that they have entered into a business partnership with SEODesk. This move will see SEODesk assisting the Surrey based landscaping company to rank higher on search engines and to improve their online service to customers.

House of Landscaping has long been proud of the range of landscaping, garden and property improvements they can provide and the company also places a great deal of importance on customer service. Working alongside one of the premier search engine optimisation experts in the country will help House of Landscaping to further improve the service that they can provide to customers.

With summer eventually starting to come into view, many people will be considering how to get the most out of their garden and this is where the full range of House of Landscaping services can be of benefit. Whether a customer is looking for immediate benefits to make the most of 2013 or they are happy to enjoy their garden for many years to come, it makes sense to contact House of Landscaping. The company is happy to provide a no obligation and no fee consultation so anyone keen to find new ideas for their garden can benefit greatly.

The full range of garden design Reigate services provided by the firm can benefit homes and gardens of every size and there are options for every budget. Anyone seeking driveways Reigate advice will be glad to know that the firm can take the process from planning through construction all the way to tidying up at the end of the project.

House of Landscaping are proud of the service that they provide and they hope that with the assistance of SEODesk, they will be the name that people find when looking for garden design and landscaping support in the Reigate area and beyond.

About House of Landscaping:

House of Landscaping has a strong track record of landscaping services in the Surrey area and there is no shortage of strong testimonials backing the company and the work that they provide. With a focus on customer service, the company is always happy to provide advice and offer a no obligation and no consultation service for all potential clients.

PDF


Print

LA PORTE CITY, Iowa — The La Porte City FFA Historical and Ag Museum will sponsor the “Be Inspired” garden walk from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. June 23.

Visitors will be treated to five individual gardens as well as view one business in the process of completing a major landscaping and renovation project.

Gardens featured on the tour are:

Gary and Sherry Sheffler, featuring spacious lawns and gardens and lots of rustic elements.

David and Marcia Snook, featuring an historic porch and cottage garden.

Steve and Deb Wilson, featuring themed gardens and more than 200 varieties of hostas and 250 varieties of day lilies.

Patrick and Brenda Gardner, gardens include mature specimens surrounded by architectural elements repurposed.

Nancy Olson, featuring a pond and grasses.

La Porte City Golf Club, recently purchased by Wally Markham. Guests will be treated to all new landscaping around the Club house and tee boxes as well as improvements inside. Participants may finish the day here and enjoy free hors d’oeuvres from 3 to 5 p.m. and drink specials. A drawing for a door prize will take place at 5 p.m.

Advance tickets are available at Laurie’s Boutique, You’re Look’n Good, LPC Bakery, and the museum. Tickets accompanied by a guide and maps may be purchased the day of the garden walk at the museum, 408 Main St., or Patrick and Brenda Gardner’s garden at 1641 55th St. Tickets are $5 each with all proceeds benefiting the museum.

Don Roos

2012 Garden Tour

Don and Clare Roos’s property was featured in the 2012 Garden Tour. It features a Japanese garden. (Photo courtesy of Don Roos)

Posted: Monday, June 10, 2013 11:45 am

Northfield Garden Club features “Flowers Fine Art”

Posted on
June 10, 2013

• 
  
  
  

  by
  
  Ashley Klemer
  

Northfield Garden Club will sponsor their annual Garden Tour from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on July 13, and from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on July 14. The gardens chosen blend art and nature with six resident artists using varied mediums.

While the tour could begin at any garden, Linda and Mark Brindmore off East Jefferson Pkwy, 445 Rosewood Rd., have a new yard with landscaping created out of a bare plot of land but now filled with trees, interesting rocks and flower planters. Artists Heather Lawrenz and Gary Harrisberger will be there, the latter featuring woodworking for flying friends.

Pat Allen at 306 Woodley features fairy gardens and much more. Her garage-studio-greenhouse built by the family houses her artist husband David’s framing studio. His work in watercolor and acrylic features small towns and nostalgia. This is also a Certified National Wildlife Garden.

T. J. Heinricy at 1728 Archibald Circle (off West Jefferson Parkway) renames his “lawn creatures” every year. Though T. J. is our city’s parks and street supervisor, he has had time to build a Koi pond, fairy garden, and add a beautiful variety of trees in his yard. Artist David Peterson will be there with vases and bowls shaped spontaneously at his lathe from native woods.

Lynn Vincent, just up the street at 414 Riley Dr., also has a National Wildlife certified garden which provides shelter, food, and water for animals year round. Many of her plants are family heirlooms. Emily Haskell works in whimsical ceramics, and she will be at this yard.

There are two lovely gardens near Nerstrand found on Hwy 246. The first is on the very east edge of town surrounding a beautifully restored 1880 farmhouse, owned by Sherry and Carl Richardson, 420 Kielmeyer Ave. NE in Nerstrand. “Lawn rooms” dot the lawn along with a lovely back patio. Patsy Dew will share her photographic prints of nature and her artist book journals at this site.

The second Nerstrand garden is that of Amy Voigt’s, 41229 Tenth Ave., just east of town. She is a landscape designer and project manager for Knecht’s Nursery. This garden is a “step back in time” with a split leaf silver maple and yet over 100 varieties of new plants. Artist Mary Felden features whimsical art of steel, rock, and stained glass.

The cost of the tour is $10, and tickets (in the form of a small poster with marked directions) are available at Knecht’s Landscaping and Eco Gardens, across from Econo Foods. Tickets are also available at each home on the days of the tour.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Olson, tour chairperson, at 507-301-3396 or visit the Northfield Garden Club website: www.thenorthfieldgardenclub.org/sponsored-events/northfieldgardentour

© 2013 Southernminn.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

• 
  Discuss
  
• Print
  
  
  

Posted in
News,
Local

on

Monday, June 10, 2013 11:45 am.

By Sarah Cosgrove
10 June 2013

The chicken coop — rearmored after sad experience with mink, foxes and raccoons — nestles under the trees, including the ones holding the children’s treehouse.

Along with the swimming pool, bocce ball court and sledding hill, they draw the headlines at a Barrington Hills estate open for the 13th Annual Barrington Country Garden Antique Faire. After all, who can resist a family of growing chicks complete with dad the rooster and the whimsy of a sign: “Hot Chicks Live Here.”

If you go

What:Barrington Country Garden Antique Faire

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22.

Where: Buses leave every 15 minutes from 800 Hart Road (across the street from Barrington High School) and on Friday only also from the high school, 616 W. Main St.

Tickets: $40 through June 16; $50 June 17 and after. Early Buy ticket for $75 lets people in at 8:30 a.m. Friday for shopping.

Benefits:Hands of Hope, a local organization dedicated to helping women and children in Africa.

Information: (847) 381-7367 or handsofhopeonline.org.

Etc.: The main estate will host sales, entertainment and food choices. A third estate, which was on the tour several years ago, features much-heralded gardens, including 11 ponds and a private lake.

But the 5 acres of gently rolling land holding a large new home in a style that’s almost a mix of Tudor and prairie also offer a coordinating tea house and quiet areas under the ancient trees.

The Barrington Hills estate is one of three open June 21 and 22 for visitors to stroll as part of the faire, a fundraiser for projects in Africa.

This haven is a great family spot providing fresh eggs for breakfast and the homeowner’s baking, vegetables from the garden and flowers for tables inside and out.

The chickens were inspired by the rural childhood of the homeowner’s mother, and she likes the bustle they provide and, of course, the eggs, “something fresh that you eat just then.” The vegetable garden — recently moved to grab more sun — grows potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, arugula, parsley and other herbs. The cutting garden blooms with dahlias, poppies, black-eyed Susan, iris, gerber daisies and cosmos.

Even the small, one-room tea house does double duty, serving as a warming house with a blazing fireplace in winter when youngsters sled down a hill beside it and a shelter for adult conversation on summer evenings.

The entrance to the large cream-and-taupe house built in 2004 is impressive. After a narrow tree-lined lane, visitors see terraced limestone walls holding boxwood, pink Knock Out roses, lilacs, hydrangea and pachysandra. They frame planters boasting the trumpet blooms of pink mandevilla.

The Iowa bluestone pool deck presents its own gardens, featuring dwarf lilac trees, rose bushes and crabapple trees. Among the not-to-be missed sights: two large pedestal urns decorated with very colorful broken pieces of glass.

Bluestone also forms the rear patio under a pergola where purple clematis climbs. Climbing hydrangea back here “takes over the house,” reports the homeowner. In the rear yard, visitors will notice a flourishing white tree friends gave to memorialize the homeowner’s mother.

Other trees around the property include smoke, birch, crabapple, maple and oak, but one of the largest elms in Barrington Hills with a canopy that spread over the whole house succumbed to disease. And the spring blooms are past on the many dwarf lilac trees.

Here’s one more highlight in the lawn and gardens cared for by Jose Fajardo of Dream Home Landscaping in Mundelein: roses. The multitude of bushes around the grounds further the homeowner’s palette that tends toward pink, blue and white.

Two UCLan graduates have scooped a top prize in one of the country’s most prestigious garden competitions.

Monty Richardson, 29, and Peter Cowell, 28, decided to set up in business together as Living Gardens Ltd, after becoming firm friends on their design course.

After five years of building their landscaping company in the Leyland and Manchester areas, they entered the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show’s ‘Low Cost, High Impact’ garden exhibition.

Their 3D design was chosen as the best by judges, and will now be built at the show in three weeks time.

Monty said: “It feels amazing to win something like this.

“Me and Pete have been working together covering the Lancashire area since 2008 and it’s going really, really well.

“Now we get the chance to build our design in front of television cameras for the flower show.”

The pair entered the lower price limit section and were restricted to designs costing £7,000, so plumped for a vision of a ‘floating’ patio seating area, with ‘floating’ steps leading into it.

Surrounding each side of the patio will be an oasis of planting in a bog-style border and within this, a paddle stone wall water feature.

The perimeter of the paving is wrapped in untreated, weathered steel.

Monty said: “We came up with the design for people who have limited space, or might have drainage problems.”

Living Gardens has already experienced success at the Southport Flower Show in 2008, where Monty and Peter were awarded a large gold for the construction of a show garden themed upon the European Capital of Culture for Liverpool.

Once their design is completed for the RHS event, it will be rated once more by show judges, independent of other designs.

• Reading Eagle Press
• W E E U
• Reading Eagle Company

[+] Enlarge.
  – 

In the southwestern shoulder of Cape Cod is a surprising art gallery, an automobile museum, a working circa 1908 Looff Carousel, an antique firearms and military miniatures museum, acres of formal gardens, a labyrinth, a windmill, a maze garden and galleries of New England folk art and bird carvings.

And, all of that is at one place: Heritage Museums Gardens in the quintessential Cape Cod town of Sandwich, Mass.

Its 100 acres spread out on gently rolling hills consumed by broad lawns and brilliant gardens full of encyclopedic collections of many varieties, including its own Dexter Rhododendrons.

There are miles of walking paths and trails, a café, and one of the most impressive and important collections of historic vehicles in America.

The land has been occupied since 1677, and since then has housed some influential and interesting families. Much of the landscaping is the legacy of Charles Owen Dexter, who parlayed his fortune made in textile manufacturing into the estate he owned for many years. Dexter was an avid gardener and amateur landscape architect.

The property was later purchased by Josiah Kirby Lilly, who established the automobile museum in honor of his father, pharmaceutical chemist Eli Lilly.

Heritage Museums Gardens mounts several special exhibitions throughout the year, and features many concerts and events on its absolutely beautiful grounds.

Through October, the Automobile Gallery and Special Exhibitions Gallery are displaying 16 of the most historically important “concept cars” ever built in the exhibition Driving Our Dreams: Imagination in Motion.

The Spokane in Bloom garden tour, which starts Saturday, will feature Bruce and Ann Dentler’s railroad-themed perennial garden on Five Mile Prairie.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

If you go

Spokane in Bloom Garden Tour

When: Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Ticket info: Tickets can be purchased for $10 at any of the gardens on the day of the tour or at these Spokane nurseries:

•
Blue Moon Garden Nursery, 1732 S. Inland Empire Way

•
Gerry’s Trees, 2220 W. Strong Road

•
Gibson’s Nursery, 1401 S. Pines Road

•
Green Thumb Nursery, 16816 E. Sprague Ave.

•
Judy’s Enchanted Garden, 2628 W. Northwest Blvd.

•
Mel’s Nursery, 8800 N. Division St.

•
Northwest Seed Pet, 7302 N. Division St. and 2422 E. Sprague Ave.

•
Ritter’s Florist Nursery, 10120 N. Division St.

•
Tower Perennial Gardens, 4010 E. Jamieson Road

More info: www.tieg.org

We are now embarking upon the season when generous gardeners open their beautiful gardens to the public. The Spokane in Bloom garden tour on Saturday is first up, showcasing six wonderful gardens on the North Side and four bonus stops along the way.

Those visiting Ann and Bruce Dentler’s garden will have a hard time deciding which part is their favorite. Located at 7711 N. Panorama Drive, they’ve done an excellent job laying out it out on their double lot.

While they’ve lived there since 1976, the garden really began taking shape in 1997 when they hired a landscape architect to design the paths, sprinkler system and raised beds.

“Growing vegetables in Spokane can be challenging but raised beds work well because they are warmer and drain better,” Bruce Dentler said.

In addition to the vegetable garden, there is a pond with a waterfall, a caboose playhouse for their grandchildren, more than 150 containers planted with colorful annuals, a swale filled with drought-tolerant plants and a three-tiered garden railroad.

“I really wanted a railroad to add interest and whimsy,” Bruce Dentler said. “The garden was my primary focus but the railroad is an accent.”

Pathways lead to many garden rooms planted with irises, hostas, daylilies, roses, peonies and flowering shrubs. Trellises are covered with clematis vines. A lattice-covered pergola provides a shady spot to sit and enjoy the garden.

A physician who cares for people in nursing homes, Dentler has found gardening to be therapeutic.

“I have a job that’s stressful and emotional and clean,” he said. “I like having a hobby that is a salve for relaxing and getting my hands dirty.”

Ann Dentler has particularly enjoyed watching her grandchildren in the garden. “They are learning about gardening, they take an interest in planting and knowing the plant names and types of birds. It’s fun seeing it through the eyes of a child,” she said.

They both hope visitors will get some ideas from their garden. “It can be intimidating for people to see a garden like this, but it didn’t start out this way,” Bruce Dentler said. “We’ve learned a lot from other gardens, reading books, going to garden shows and just trying new things.”

The following gardens are also a part of the tour:

Julie and Bill Nesbitt, 3002 W. Trinity Ave. – Visitors will enjoy exploring this certified wildlife habitat with its shade garden filled with hostas, ferns and hydrangeas, and a rock garden planted with mosses, irises and succulents. Large deck planters are brimming with perennials, as are six raised beds.

Kelly and Penny Achten, 3104 W. Trinity Ave. – This garden is graced by a water feature, sunflowers, garden art, perennial beds and a vegetable garden.

Mary Ann and Ken Corman, 7602 N. Audubon – The Cormans have designed their 10-year-old garden as an imaginative play space for their grandchildren and a haven for wild birds. Enjoy the water features, the many paths and colorful annuals that brighten the garden.

Joyce and Doug Rosenoff, 3001 W. Mark Court – In 2000, the Rosenoffs transformed their garden by excavating and leveling the area, and moving 500-pound boulders. Visitors will get to see the results, which include a delightful flower garden.

Liz and Curt Nelson, 3503 W. Horizon Ave. – With a panoramic view of Spokane as the centerpiece of this garden, the owners designed a scaled-down English garden that is low-maintenance and environmentally friendly. A deck garden for growing vegetables and many roses, peonies and hydrangeas are just a sampling of the features here.

Bonus attractions on the tour:

• New Horizons Church Garden of Eatin’ community garden, 3122 W. Lincoln Road.

• Five Mile Prairie Schoolhouse, 8621 N. Five Mile Road.

• Gerry’s Trees and Landscaping, 2220 W. Strong Road. Enter to win a $100 gift certificate.

• Judy’s Enchanted Garden, 2628 W. Northwest Blvd. Enter to win a $100 gift certificate.

In addition to music, art and garden-related vendors at each of the stops, a lunch will be available for purchase at the Corman garden. Proceeds from this tour will go toward community service programs.

Susan Mulvihill can be reached via email at inthegarden@live.com.

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 9
–>

Peter, whose professional name is Peter Rocks, built a river rock creek that uses storm runoff from the roof to water the plants and landscaping in the front yard. The couple often bring home rocks they find on hikes to place in the creek. They can tell you a story about each one.

“My morning ritual is to wander the garden with my coffee,” said Samantha, who’s also project manager at the Housing Authority of the city of Asheville. She checks up on all the plants, dispensing a pat or two here and there. It’s a calming way to start her day.

Birds big and small

Peter has seen pileated woodpeckers and, recently, an owl in the trees in their yard. Two kinds of hawks nest somewhere nearby, he said. Until that very morning, baby Carolina wrens were nested nearby, but it appeared they had flown the coop, Samantha said.

She and Peter collect sedum and have a large variety of the cheerful plant everywhere. Strawberries grow next to the house, on the side that has a fire pit that their neighbors were giving away.

The pit is at the end of the driveway that Peter has inlaid with bricks, creating the outline of a cityscape.

Peter has worked rocks and brick all around the grounds, in ways so arresting that you don’t realize you’re standing beside lovely ferns spewing forth from the ground, tucked into small ledges on boulders wrenched into place.

Digging in

For most people, buying a home is the biggest financial transaction they’ll ever undertake. Daunted, Samantha took a homebuyer class offered by the housing authority. (It’s now offered by OnTrack Financial Education Counseling.)

“Loans, lawyers, inspections, picking light fixtures — the class was really grounding,” she said. “And it made me realize (owning a home) really was possible and not just a dream I had.”

Working with Kyle Gilliland of Amarx Construction in Asheville, she built a sunny three-bedroom, two-bath house of about 1,600 square feet. After Samantha took the class, “it was really shocking how easy all the pieces fell together,” she said. She moved in December 2011.