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Hospital auxiliary to dedicate serenity garden

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On June 6, the culmination of the Auxiliary of Springfield Hospital Center’s planning, fertilizing and planting during the last year-and-a-half will finally be realized.

The garden, located in the central courtyard of the Hitchman Building at the Springfield Hospital Center, has been totally overhauled and will be dedicated as the Serenity Garden. The state has provided a bronze dedication plaque that will forever commemorate the garden’s creation. Gaye Grimes, president of the Auxiliary, said it will be a closed ceremony open to staff and volunteer service members only.

Paula Langmead, CEO of the Springfield Hospital Center, said she noticed many hospitals she had visited across the nation had designated an area that was designed to instill feelings of peace and tranquility to patients and their families. Langmead decided to incorporate this idea, known as sensory modulation, into the Springfield Hospital Center, and said she couldn’t think of a better location than the Hitchman Building.

“The building was ideal because it was built in a circular design so this is an area that is central and the area is conducive to a garden,” Langmead said.

According to The Permanente Journal, a peer-reviewed medical journal, utilizing sensory modulation approaches and tools means the need for seclusion and restraint, which are far more coercive methods of treatment intervention, are reduced.

Grimes said sensory modulation guidelines were used when designing the garden, from the colors of the flowers to the construction, transportation and installation of a water feature. The garden occupies a total of 2,080 square feet, while the fountain is 9 feet by 11 feet and constructed from solid basalt. The purpose of the Serenity Garden is to calm patients, to limit violent outbursts and the resulting injuries to both staff and themselves, she said.

“When we designed it, we tried to keep in mind what was calming, and comforting and serene,” Grimes said. “It’s quiet and all you hear is the waterfall.”

The Auxiliary hired Sun Nurseries, a landscaping service located in Woodbine, which planned the layout of the garden based on the Auxiliary’s specifications and requests and provided a list of flower options and their blooming patterns. Grimes and the other Auxiliary members decided no matter the season, the garden would be able to fulfill its purpose.

“We designed it so there wouldn’t be just one burst of color and then nothing else,” Grimes said. “All through the year, there will be something colorful.”

The Auxiliary has spent almost $50,000 on the garden, the bulk of that being the water feature. In order to raise the funds needed, the Auxiliary has held yard sales, selling items that have been donated to the Springfield Hospital Center or to the Auxiliary directly, monetary donations and they receive commission from the soda and snack machines located throughout the hospital center. Grimes also said that in the four years she has been president, this is by far the largest project the Auxiliary has ever undertaken.

“[The Auxiliary’s] goal is to augment what the state can do for the patients,” Grimes said. “Anything the state cannot provide, we pick up.”

Ellen Dix, vice president of the Auxiliary, said because the Auxiliary is a volunteer-based service, all money raised is given back to the residents of the hospital center in many ways.

Dix added that by thinking of better methods for meeting the patient’s needs, the Auxiliary is also bettering their lives and the lives of their families. Truly, the name of the garden says it all.

“As patients go by or stop to take a look, hopefully the gardens will provide a sense of calm,” Dix said.

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Garden activists call on City of Kelowna to work community plots into …

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With growth of the community garden program running wild, the society behind the Central Okanagan’s 15 garden sites wants councils to lean on developers to build plots into new housing.

“I think the city owes it to the public to encourage developers to do this,” said Sandy James, Central Okanagan Community Gardens coordinator. “It’s a beautiful space that they can provide for the residents in that building and, by doing that, those people will meet each other in their garden and they will become a stronger building and get to know each other. This is not just about growing a tomato and having a yummy tomato. It’s the social connections.”

James has worked with the COCG since 2003 and takes charge of building new garden sites. The non-profit organizaiton now has more than 350 plots between Oyama and West Kelowna, but there are more than 200 people in the City of Kelowna alone waiting for a place to plant the fruits, veggies and flowers.

“Back in 2010, when I built Sutton Glen (in Glenmore), that’s when it really took off. That one was over-subscribed from the outset,” said James, noting people saw how well it was run, how little it costs to have a plot and demand skyrocketed.

Calls for more gardens follow development COCG has noticed.

“They’re building so many condos and apartments, but there’s no place for people to garden,” said Ruth Mellor, COCG president, noting its a key form of recreation for a large portion of the population.

Mellor is personally in charge of the gardens on Barlee Road and says there was only one apartment building in the vicinity when it was built eight years ago; today it is surrounded by condos and townhouses.

“It seems like when someone is building a multi-family development they really are going to have to plan for gardens,” she said.

Consultants have suggested the City of Kelowna incorporate planning policies that hone in on urban agriculture, Mellor said, and she cannot see why developers could not be given a break, zoning variances or development cost charge reductions, in exchange for planned community gardens.

COCG is tallying up all the developments that have put in garden spaces, who built them, whose in charge of them and how much people pay to garden in the privately-run spaces in order to prove the extent of demand.

“There’s this feeling like: Who would take care of garden plots? Or that the gardens might be unsightly,” she said. “But it would actually, probably, cost buildings a lot less to have the tenants caring for their garden plots than it costs for landscaping.”

With people downsizing from houses to condos, gardening offers a way to meet and connect with a neighbourhood, Mellor pointed out.

“So much of it is beyond the actual garden,” she said.

Luke Stack agrees. A Kelowna city councillor and the founder and executive director of Society of Hope, he’s built community gardens into many of the social housing projects he runs and says he prefers a carrot versus a stick approach.

“If somebody has a little bit of a wait list, it isn’t such a bad thing because it encourages people to look after the existing plots well,” he said.

He has encouraged the COCG to look beyond the city and even beyond government for grants to find other forms of support to make the program more sustainable, and says he isn’t fond of the idea of dictating gardens into bylaws or development guidelines.

With this said, Stack says he would gladly encourage developers and non-profits to build gardens in, if it’s an option the developer selects independently.

“No one has forced the Society of Hope to build in a community garden,” he said. “We do it because we can see the benefit of it. We’re using our existing land, but in my opinion, using it more wisely. We’re using it to create more food and to create a community environment. For me, it’s like whether I planted a bunch of trees and plants or a community garden—it doesn’t cost me anymore either way.”

His gardens have become meeting places where residents share a coffee and one resident is even farming enough potatoes to share them with his whole building—a win, win in his view.

James said she believes the generation just starting to garden is more socially conscious and understands that urban agriculture offers a better alternative to cheap organic produce from Costco, which is produced off the backs of cheap labour. She believes demand will only continue to grow.

Plotline behind gardens:

  • there are over 350 community garden plots in the Central Okanagan
  • some 200+ individuals are wait-listed for gardens
  • a plot costs $20 plus a $5 key deposit to access a shed full of tools on each site
  • gardeners are paying for the insurance costs of running the plots and supplies
  • water is covered by the municipalities (at low agricultural watering rates), the three churches where located on church property, one well for the private land plot in Oyama, and the Oyama Community Centre
  • the society accesses grant dollars from municipal governments throughout the Central Okanagan, in-kind donations from businesses, the Central Okanagan Foundation and Interior Health Authority
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Startups hope to address Phoenix’s problems

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One business wants to teach kids how to skate after school.

One plans to connect donated goods to socially conscious shoppers.

And another wants to help people find water-bottle refill stations to reduce reliance on plastic bottles.

The three will compete against several other startups Thursday, June 5, for a chance to win $5,000 to further their efforts. It’s all part of Seed Spot, a Phoenix-based non-profit incubator for social entrepreneurs, aspiring business leaders committed to solving societal problems.

“We really believe that entrepreneurs can solve major societal problems,” said Courtney Klein, co-founder and CEO of Seed Spot. “We believe if we read about it in the headlines, we can solve it through the innovation of entrepreneurs.”

The local entrepreneurs will pitch their solutions to some of Phoenix’s societal problems at Seed Spot’s Demo Day from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 W. Adams St.

The fledgling business owners will share their business plans with more than 700 people. The audience will vote via text for their favorite venture.

Demo Day is the culmination of Seed Spot’s four-month, full-time program, which has secured more than $1 million in capital and created more than 60 jobs in the Valley since launching. Klein said Seed Spot social entrepreneurs will be leaders in Phoenix’s future economic development.

“We have everything from entrepreneurs that developed an app to better diagnose epilepsy to a landscaping company that’s developing pretty specific garden-planning tools using their app,” she said.

Seed Spot launched in 2012 and provides startups with office space, a curriculum, mentors, financial modeling, media exposure and other capital opportunities to those wanting to launch businesses that benefit humanity. More than 100 people apply each cycle for anywhere from 10 to 15 slots.

Seed Spot was founded in part because finding success in social entrepreneurship can be difficult in Phoenix, Klein said.

“Sometimes it takes a while to sell a product or raise initial investment capital,” she said. “It can take anywhere from several months to a few years depending on the sophistication of the business, the capital that’s required or how hard it is to enter that market.”

Seed Spot businesses emphasize health, education, energy, environment, human rights, civic engagement and community impact.

“We support both for-profit and non-profit startups but we exclusively focus on social entrepreneurs. It has to be a product that’s improving peoples lives,” Klein said.

Phoenix leaders and entrepreneurs have worked hard to develop a startup culture for several years. Organizations like Seed Spot, CoHoots and JumpStart Phoenix have popped up in the last several years in central and downtown Phoenix to encourage entrepreneurship.

While not the Bay Area, the mecca of startups, Klein said Phoenix’s startup culture is not going unnoticed.

“We’ve actually won some prestigious awards and honors and rank quite high for entrepreneurial capacity, so people are paying attention,” she said.

Demo Day details

Reserve your free ticket for the June 5 Demo Day at ssdemoday.spashthat.com.

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Garden Club looks to beautify Ashe County

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The Ashe County Garden Club is starting another year of helping improve the landscape throughout the area, but this year is different — they are making themselves known.

“This is really a new kind of chapter in the Garden Club,” said Cindy Escoto, president of the Ashe County Garden Club. “The things (the club) did in the past, they were a little incognito in doing it. It wasn’t quite as involved, but they didn’t have the publicity and interaction with the people.”

Part of the new-found publicity is a push to get more potential members to join and to figure out new ideas for the organization’s future.

The Garden Club has been around for approximately 10 years, with the goal of beautifying Ashe County. This is Escoto’s first year in the club, and first year serving as president.

“This is all done with member dues,” said John Jackson, a member of the Ashe County Garden Club. “We don’t ask for anything from anybody. It is all funded by our dues and pocket money.”

While the plants and landscaping is mostly provided by Garden Club funds, for some projects, local nurseries will donate flowers and other plants for the Garden Club to use.

As spring kicked off and now racing toward summer, the Ashe County Garden Club is working on many different events in the community.

“We only do things during the spring and summer seasons, because of the nice weather,” Escoto said. “We are doing plenty of new things that we previously did not do.”

On Mother’s Day Weekend, the club helped 65 area children at the Farmer’s Market provide potted plants for their mother and on Friday, May 30, the group was helping to beautify the front lawn of the Ashe Pregnancy Care Center in Jefferson.

“It just beautifies our area and makes it feel better and more homely for the girls and the guys that we serve,” said Roger Newton, director of the Ashe Pregnancy Care Center. “That’s the wonderful thing.”

For the Pregnancy Care Center, the Garden Club removed old weeds and dead plants from the front and then placed two flower beds and a tree to greet visitors to the center.

“They asked for help doing it, so part of our mission statement is to be involved in our civic community and beautifying it,” Escoto said. “This seemed like perfect outlet, because they wanted the help and we had the members who wanted to donate their help.”

In the past, the Garden Club has created gardens at the Jefferson Post Office, the Museum of Ashe County History and Mountain View Elementary School. In July, the club will have a booth at the Christmas in July Festival, where a raffle will be held to give away a botanical painting by local artist Jane Johnson.

While the organization has been around several years, it has been something that was not widely publicized. As the group does more for the community, more people in Ashe County are showing their support.

“We get thank you’s from everybody we have helped in the past, but we really haven’t publicized the club very much,” Jackson said. “We have good recognition from our Mother’s Day project. Up to this point until (Escoto) took over, we didn’t have a lot of publicity, we were undercover.”

The group meets monthly from April to November at Smokey Mountain Barbecue in West Jefferson.

People who are interested in joining the Ashe County Garden Club can join the nonprofit’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/www.ashecountygardenclub.org/

Wil Petty can be reached at (336) 846-7164 or on Twitter @WilPetty.

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Senior citizens build garden for Perry Museum

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Seniors residing at the Gardens at Friendswood Lakes apartment complex have decided to plant a garden behind the Perry Museum in Friendswood as a tribute to the Perry’s and for everyone to view.

The Gardens at Friendswood Lakes is an apartment complex for active seniors. These are men and women who love being involved in special activities and really enjoying their lives.

Vice President of the Friendswood Historical Society Board Mel Measeles discussed the significance of the garden.

“Nathan and Mary Perry, they came in and so they had a garden like this so when we restored the house and everything we wanted to make sure that we had a garden here also, but we’ve had a hard time getting people to help keep it going and these great folks came in and said we’ll do it! So that’s why they’re here,” he said.

Thanks to Councilmember Steve Rockey for discussing his interest about the garden to the Property manager at the complex, Susan Cavendar, the seniors have one more thing to keep them occupied and full of joy.

“I had talked to Steve Rockey prior to this…he expressed his interest with the Gardens, doing some things for the Heritage Society and then the residents have always wanted to have a gardens and things like that and we couldn’t figure out a place that we could do it on the property. He approached me with this idea and Pat Lodder, she drives the van. She helps me in the office,” Cavendar said. “She’s the assistant there, that’s what she wanted to do and I told her to go for it…so it gives them a little bonding time and you can say they’re just loving it. I just think it’s cute. They’re out here and it just helps provides stuff for our seniors and the heritage.”

Cavendar is thrilled about the garden and loves how the seniors are enjoying themselves and one another while gardening. She said the motive behind the garden was a blessing for them.

“Well, it’s funny, you know how they say faith? You know it does, it just kind of intermingles you, the residents were wanting a garden and we were talking about it and how we could set it up on the property and it just so happened that Steve Rockey showed up and said we have a place behind the Perry House and we would be interested in having a garden and I said thank you God! It was just coincidently; it was something they wanted, something he wanted and so I told Pat you know what just go ahead and put it together and so she is. She’s doing a wonderful job of keeping the ladies going and the ladies like it.”

Resident Jane Townsend, explained her love for the garden: “You’re closer to God when you dig in the garden and I think it’s just an excellent opportunity, the food is so much better tasting and we share it with everybody even the one’s that aren’t well enough to come out and play in the garden. So then for Mother’s Day we did the big salad from the fresh greens from the garden… and each time we come and harvest, we plant some more seeds so we’ll have continuing plants that are coming up and some of us are city folk and we don’t know what we’re doing, but it’s really a good experience, we’re having fun.”

They have planted cucumbers, different types of lettuce and tomatoes, onions, egg plants, bell peppers, basil and much more.

Townsend said they planted squash and fig trees as well. “We’ve been doing the garden since 2 months, 2 ½ months, something like that.”

Resident Mary Samford said that her ex-husband helped with the garden and is responsible for laying down the landscaping fabric in the garden. He “helped out here a lot; he put down this landscaping fabric…which helped specifically when it was so muddy, we can walk on it and he helped plant these tomatoes and all the lettuce and then really one of the most important things that he (did was) blessed our little field here. Our little plot that it would be bountiful and produce a lot of good vegetables for us this summer.”

Vicky Glaisyer, resident of the complex, loves the garden so much that she will find any means necessary to come to the garden and work, even with her disability.

“She cares enough about the garden, when she can’t even walk to it and she has to kind of scoot to get here and she cares enough to do that for us and with us and she of course as 100 percent accepted as she is; we all are and she digs hard and works hard while she’s here,” Townsend said.

She said that anyone who is feeling well enough to come to the garden will come, but the core group that maintains the garden consists of about seven residents.

The garden is directly behind the Perry Museum and anyone is welcome to view the garden and see all of the hard-work and dedication that the residents have put in daily. The Perry Museum is located at 109 W. Spreading Oaks, Friendswood, 77546.

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Edible garden is sustainable, tasty

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Now is the perfect time to consider edible landscaping. It’s a way to grow your food not in a traditional vegetable patch — sequestered in the back yard, lined in neat rows — but out front and proud.

Unlike foraging, which can be an occasional fun and productive venture into the woods, edible landscaping blends the aesthetically minded design of an ornamental garden with the sustainability of micro-scale farming. Strawberries and apple trees are a brilliant sight when fully grown, as are elderberries, juneberries and red kale.

MORE: Want to go healthy and local? Try foraging

With gardening season in full bloom, consider reclaiming the space around your home in a way that a vegetable patch or flower bed can’t. An option for urban and suburban homeowners alike, the practice also benefits the local food and water infrastructure, advocates say.

Edible landscaping “is beautiful and makes our community more sustainable,” said Rae Schnapp, a local landscaper and wildlife aficionado. On a recent summery afternoon, Schnapp leads a small team of volunteers to dig out old shrubs in front of the Unitarian Universalist Church in West Lafayette, replacing them with edible, brightly colored and beautifully patterned trees and shrubs.

With her right hand, Schnapp holds up an elderberry shrub, which has pointed purple leaves and bright pink clusters of flowers that shake in the wind like tiny bobbleheads. A golden-green variety bounces in her other hand. Placing the two colors together, she creates a deep-purple-on-chartreuse pattern that puts to shame most color designs found in a regular front yard garden.

But the elderberry, Schnapp explains, isn’t just a pretty plant. It’s food. With the help of her fellow volunteers, she bends down to cultivate what will eventually produce small, black, tart and antioxidant-filled berries, which she plans to make into jam, pie, or juice.

The Indiana-native shrub, sold at local nurseries like Bennett’s, is an attractive, resilient, healthy, tasty and less toxic alternative to front lawns. Compared to a grass lawn — which Americans spend an estimated $40 billion a year to maintain — a front yard with elderberry and other edible plants requires less water, eliminates the need for a gas-gobbling mower and provides a source of food that’s local and organic.

And while Unitarian Universalist Church Rev. Charlie Davis describes edible landscaping as a “lost art,” it’s a practice that can start as simply as replacing one unwanted shrub with an herb.

Plant colorful edibles like red Russian kale or tricolor variegated sage among flowers and other shrubs, interspersing different colors in patterns that make sense for the existing landscape. Asparagus grows surprisingly tall in the summer. After the spring harvest season, watch them shoot up to past waist level with elegant, wispy foliage.

“Just follow the same principals of plant placement for creating a flowered landscape,” said Ian Thompson, founder of Tippecanoe Urban Farmers, a collective that promotes and cultivates sustainable food yards in Greater Lafayette. “It’s a worthwhile endeavor because of the quality of food, the exercise and the fortification of the local food infrastructure.”

Thompson is partial to honeyberries, a honeysuckle relative. The elongated, dark blue fruit of honeyberries is an excellent ingredient in homemade bread and a mineral-rich topping on vanilla ice cream and yogurt. He also delights in gooseberries, a currant relative.

Seth Wannemuehler, a nursery worker at Bennett’s, recommends herbs like creeping thyme and oregano, easy ways to “help spice up your garden.”

Juneberry is easier to grow than the blueberry, and they’re just as tasty, albeit with an added almond flavor from the seed. You can pluck the berries right off the tree and eat as is or sprinkle in cereal. Take your most trusted blueberry pie recipe and use juneberry as a substitute, or crush them up and heat it in a saucepan with sugar and lemon juice to make jam.

Some more local native plants that look and taste good: Paw paw, or “Hoosier banana,” can be scooped out with a spoon and enjoyed raw, or incorporated into sorbets and muffins. Rhubarb is a no-brainer around these parts — crisp, tart or pies are a sure hit at potlucks.

Here’s an idea the kids can get behind: The Unitarian Universalist Church is growing a pizza garden, a collection of basil, tomatoes and peppers that allows the church to teach its youth groups about growing your own food.

The plan is to have a pizza party at the end of the summer — fun, tasty and everything grown locally.

“The idea is to learn to be connected to the Earth,” Davis said. “And we see it as part of being holy. For Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson, having that relationship with nature was a big part of spirituality.”

Schnapp and her church are two years into a “green sanctuary” initiative, which aims to reduce the church’s environmental footprint. Those efforts dovetailed nicely with an ethical eating initiative when Schnapp and other volunteers decided to convert the church’s outdoor landscape into an edible one.

Like any type of gardening, edible landscaping can get complicated. Elements to consider: shade, design, taste, resilience of the plants, soil, staking, pruning, weeding and protection from insects and animals. There are probably too many options to begin with, from planting a tree for the long term, to cultivating an herb garden or alternative methods like straw bale gardens, a popular way to create a weed-free, raised bed garden.

But possibility is a virtue. Novices and experienced gardeners looking for a greener garden can start with online resources or the local library. Tippecanoe County Public Library currently features several gardening books. Tippecanoe Urban Farmers, found online at www.facebook.com/TUFarmers, serves as consultants for local edible landscapers.

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Rain gardens like one by parking deck, Town Green provide guard for environment – Rome News

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What might look like an ordinary combination of plant beds and rocks is actually a tool in the fight for water conservation and environmental awareness.

The rain garden at the Town Green is right next to the Third Avenue Parking Deck and is mostly contained within a section surrounded by a brick wall.

Eric Lindberg, the city’s environmental expert, said rain gardens help restore groundwater supply and save the ecosystems of rivers and streams that could be disrupted due to large amounts of stormwater runoff.

“If you pave over everything, there is a lot less wet dirt to recharge those streams when we have dry times,” Lindberg said. “So, the more water we put into the ground, the better we can maintain the flow of those at a more consistent level.”

Lindberg said the problem increases exponentially in urban areas. Atlanta is seeing its fair share as some of the city’s small streams have been reduced to small trickles or don’t flow at all until large amounts of rainfall, causing erosion damage.

Large-scale demonstration

Visitors to the Town Green (map) can see the spouts where stormwater comes out after it is channeled off of the four-level parking deck.

The water then goes into the plant bed where it is soaked into the soil and filtered gradually through layers of soil and gravel.

At the very bottom of the rain garden area is a perforated drain to direct any large amount of rainwater out of the area.

“In the beginning, the stormwater that runs off of the parking deck was just going to run out through a pipe and into the river,” said Brad Jones, the landscape architect and project manager on the Town Green project. “We thought, ‘Let’s funnel it to the side and allow it to be absorbed into the soil.’”

The trees in the rain garden are bald cypress, one of the plants that are well suited to both extreme flood conditions and extreme droughts.

The methodology behind rain gardens has become a big part of stormwater management plans in many urban areas, according to Jones.

“A lot of municipalities, while they don’t do this level of aesthetics, they require more and more of what is called first flush treatment,” Jones said.

First flush refers to the initial surface runoff after a rainstorm, which usually consists of a higher concentration of pollutants.

Bringing it on home

Rain gardens are not just something for city governments to install. Smaller versions can be created in residential areas.

Thanks to the upswing in conservation efforts and the resources found on the Internet, there is a lot more information about rain gardens now than there was 10 years ago, Lindberg said.

“It’s not a hard thing to do and it’s not intrusive,” Lindberg said. “If you are doing landscaping anyway, it’s an easy thing to do.”

Lindberg sad the philosophy for home rain gardens is the same as the relatively large one at the Town Green.

“What you are doing is holding water for just a little bit of time and letting it seep into the ground naturally,” he said.

Lindberg said people can check out other local examples of rain gardens by visiting the Rome-Floyd E.C.O. River Education Center at Ridge Ferry Park (map).

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Successfully planting vegetables for a colourful and blossoming garden

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Garden wedding and Tuscan garden on Mountainside Garden Tour – The Star

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A spectacular specimen planting in a Tuscan urn is among many on display at the Rolling Rock Road garden which one of six gardens taking part in the Mountainside Restoration Committee’s Tour of Mountainside’s Gardens to be held on Saturday, June 7. 

Two of the six Mountainside Gardens on view during the June 7 tour of Mountainside Gardens are specially themed and staged for a Garden Wedding and a Tuscan Garden.

The Appletree Lane garden is in the backyard of a beautiful brand new home. It is newly landscaped by Harol Landscaping and the lush expansive lawn area will be staged and ready for a Garden Wedding. Featuring seating in front of a wedding arch and tables designed by Christoffers Florist, Millburn Florist and The Mountainside Restoration Committee, this yard is spectacular. Linda Condrillo will be on hand to show and sell her fantastic photo cards and prints – many of which are photos taken in the gardens.

On Rolling Rock Road, a garden which is owned by a florist becomes a tranquil Tuscan oasis. With a variety of Tuscan-inspired clay pots and urns planted with unique specimens, this poolside garden is reminiscent of the Italian countryside. Visitors to this lush and gracious garden will be calmed and inspired by its serene tranquility.

The six gardens on the Mountainside tour are located on Rolling Rock Road, Wood Valley Road, Stony Brook Lane, Appletree Lane, Meetinghouse Lane and Robin Hood Road. Each garden is uniquely themed and inspires guests with ideas for their own gardens. They can be visited in any order.

Visitors are also encouraged to enjoy lunch at Mountainside’s Publick House restaurant whose management is generously donating the proceeds of lunch ticket sales back to the Mountainside Restoration Committee. The tour runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Advance tickets for Mountainside’s Garden Tour are $45 for tour and lunch or $30 for tour only and can be purchased online at mountainsidehistory.org or at Christoffers Flower and Gift Shop located at 860 Mountain Ave. in Mountainside. Limited tickets will also be sold on the day of the tour at each Garden Tour location for $35 for tour and $15 for lunch.

All proceeds from the tour and lunch will be used by the Mountainside Restoration Committee for restoration and maintenance of the historic Hetfield and Levi Cory houses.

The Mountainside Restoration Committee (aka, Mountainside Historical Committee) is a 501(c)(3) registered not-for-profit committee of volunteers governed by the Borough of Mountainside.

For further information, call 908-789-9420; or, go to: mountainsidehistory.org.

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Landmark tour: Lush city setting

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It’s the type of neighborhood where you have to know someone to buy a home there, jokes Jason Roberts and his partner Bob Farnan.

For years, the couple eyed the Mt. Hope and Highland historic neighborhood near Highland Park, embracing the landscape and the architectural details of homes on Reservoir Avenue.

Their opportunity to purchase a property came last year when they heard from a friend that a bungalow-style home would be for sale. Quietly, Roberts and Farnan made a private offer, and the deal closed without the house ever being on the market.

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“You’re in the middle of the city, but you’re in a world of your own,” Farnan says of the Mt. Hope and Highland neighborhood.

The couple’s Arts and Crafts-style home at 86 Reservoir Ave. will be showcased along with nine other neighborhood homes during the Landmark Society House Garden Tour next weekend.

The annual tour is one of the biggest fundraisers for Landmark Society of Western New York, says director of public programs Cindy Boyer. Tour headquarters are at the Lamberton Conservatory, 180 Reservoir Ave., home to unusual plants and more than a dozen turtles.

The area near the park was the exclusive domain of the Ellwanger and Barry Nursery and the Mt. Hope Cemetery throughout the middle and late 19th century and retains the influences of architects and gardeners of the time.

That tradition is still apparent in the neighborhood, Roberts says. There’s an element of keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to landscaping and maintaining gardens.

As new homeowners, Roberts and Farnan are working on their existing landscaping with a Japanese maple and blooming purple phlox at this time of year. Their home, which has one-level living and three bedrooms, was built by Charles W. Eldridge in 1911 with a low-pitched roof and broad eaves. One of the bedrooms has been turned into a study with built-in seating. The kitchen is updated to modern standards with a skylight to project light into the room.

Across the street at 89 Reservoir Ave., homeowner Terry May has been working on his side-entrance Colonial-style home and his garden for the past quarter century. The tour will be his grand finale. He and his partner, Joel Smith, have sold their home, also through a private sale, and will be moving to Palm Springs, Calif.

Built in 1922, the style of the home is unusual, as it looks to be a Dutch Colonial on the exterior. Painted shingles highlight the exterior, and there is a front porch with access only from inside the house.

Inside, the home retains all of its old world charm with modern updates. Filled with wood trim, May and Smith decorated it in the Arts and Crafts style. Art enthusiasts will find Japanese prints and pottery from Germany.

The garden room was added by the couple so they could enjoy the outdoors year-round. It is adjacent to the kitchen, and while the two work on meal preparation, they can look out the window.

The urban backyard is a retreat in the summer with a small pool surrounded by landscaping. Azaleas are blooming brightly right now with purple allium and phlox. May does not like to use annual flowers but planted some marigolds for the garden tour to give his backyard a pop of golden color.

May and Smith have taken great care in making sure that updates are in keeping with the home’s character. The new owners are thrilled with the mature landscape and the upgrades, May says.

At the bungalow home, Roberts and Farnan have just started to think about their renovation projects.

“We wanted to live in the house for a while,” Roberts says, noting that they want to make sure the upgrades are indeed suitable for their lifestyle.

They will also keep character in mind when upgrading, noting they are just a small part of the home’s history.

“We’re just stewards of this house,” Roberts says.

MCHAO@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/mchaostyle

Garden tour season

Throughout the summer, organizations raise money through home and garden tours. Here is information on some this month:

Landmark Society House Garden Tour

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8.

Where: Mt. Hope and Highland neighborhood. Tour Central is at Lamberton Conservatory, 180 Reservoir Ave.

Cost: $22 in advance (recommended); $25 the day of the tour if tickets are left.

Tickets: Parkleigh, 215 Park Ave.; Landmark Society office, 133 S. Fitzhugh St.

More information: landmarksociety.org.

RMSC Women’s Council Garden Tour

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14.

Where: Begin at any home on the tour. Homes are all over the area; addresses are on the ticket or, if you’re buying the day of, by calling (585) 225-0455.

Cost: $18 in advance; $20 the day of tour.

For tickets: RMSC.org, several garden centers and florists and Parkleigh (full list on website).

Greece Notable Garden Tour

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14.

Where: Six gardens through Greece, with live music, refreshments and more. The Greece Performing Arts Society’s Tour Central is at the Greece Historical Society, 595 Long Pond Road, where a free Garden Market will be set up.

Cost: $15 in advance; $20 day of tour.

For tickets: Frear’s Garden Center, 1050 Stone Road; VanPutte Gardens, 138 North Ave.; Rockcastle Florist, 870 Long Pond Road; Green Acre Farm and Nursery, 3456 Latta Road.

For information: (585) 234-5636.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping
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