Several gardens will be open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. as part of the East Campus Community Organization (ECCO) tour.
The 1.7-mile loop through the neighborhood features seven home gardens and the Varner Trial Nursery.
In addition to that, there will be outdoor 30-minute classes with Master Gardeners at 1420 N. 37th St. If it’s rainy the sessions will move indoors to the garage.
Times and class topics are:
* 9:30 a.m. Composting for a healthier garden
* 10:30 a.m. Making amazing container gardens
* 11:30 a.m. Perennial selections for your yard
* 12:30 p.m. Tree care
The $5 fee for the tour and classes will be used for tree planting in the neighborhood. Tickets can be purchased at any stop on the tour.
The sites are:
Varner Trial Nursery, 3835 Holdrege St. — This site has been used by UNL Landscape Services as a perennial plant trial area for over 25 years. The nursery is also used as an educational tool for UNL students and the general public. All the plants are labeled and arranged in easily accessible rows.
Paul and Sherri Johnson, The Johnson Guest House, 4027 Holdrege St. — Built in 1918, it was purchased by the Johnsons in 2009. Landscaping was included in the renovation project. The front garden area incorporates a rain garden. The landscape design emphasizes low-maintenance native grasses drought-tolerant plants. Wood mulch is used to reduce weeds and water loss. Landscape boulders that were unearthed from previous owners’ landscaping are reused as borders. The back yard was regraded for proper drainage and reseeded with low-maintenance turf grasses.
Janet Buck and Roger Hansen, 4105 Y St. — Purchased by the Hansens in 2003, the second lot of the property contained only grass, a peony bush and a clump of yucca. The emphasis is on native perennials; herbs and vegetables are interspersed. There also have some fruits, including rhubarb, strawberries and black raspberries. One of the newest areas of the yard is west of the house, where they have planted nut and fruit-bearing shrubs and trees: hazelnuts, gooseberries and an elderberry.
Sue and Larry Dawson, 3750 W St. — In 1998, the family moved into the house at 38th and W streets, where Larry Dawson grew up. In 2011, after losing a maple tree in the front yard, they planted mostly native plants. The yard is a Monarch Waystation and a Pollinator Habitat, with several kinds of milkweeds for the caterpillars. Only organic fertilizers and no pesticides are used in the flowerbeds.
Shirley Anderson, 3710 W St. — The home was purchased in 1992, in part, because of the large trees and birds in the neighborhood. A bald cypress, Japanese mountain ash, magnolia and redbud are in the front garden. There are nine separate small gardens in the front. Grass has been replaced by flowers over time, and a recent count of 40 different flowers bloom at their appointed time. There are three treehouses in the backyard.
Lora Black, 1221 N. 37th St. — In the south garden are plants that attract butterflies and bees. Black Knight buddleia and the Miss Kim lilacs and lantana attract swallowtails and monarchs. Past the arbor at the back of the house, columnar yews stand as a living fence on the back lot line, allowing for nesting and hiding locations for birds and squirrels. Fruit shrubs, such as the black chokeberry and the porcelain berry vine on the gazebo, also provide food for the wildlife. Lilacs, purple spirea, Red Cardinal and Purple Weigela, and a smoke tree make up the natural fence on the west.
Lynn Frankowski and Mark Lynott, 1231 N. 37th St. — Since 1989, the owners have shifted from largely bluegrass lawns to a variety of different shrubs, trees and perennials that are waterwise, can withstand harsh Nebraska weather and provide food, water and shelter for wildlife. The garden is also designed in cooperation with the neighbors on the north and south and is intended to flow between the different yards.
Susan Nichols, 1245 N. 37th St. — Most of the plants have come from friends and neighbors. The lot is surrounded by large shade trees, so you will see hostas, ferns, heuchera, Solomon seal, hellebore, bleeding heart, brunnera, and columbine. Ground covers include vinca, lamb’s ear, sweet woodruff, ivy, pachysandra, ajuga, wild ginger and liriope. The shrubs in the front of the house are boxwood and dwarf oakleaf hydrangea. The garden west of the fence in the back started out as a sun garden, but is now shade.
Speak Your Mind