Barry Coulter
Seven beautiful gardens in Cranbrook and beyond, are set to be shown off on Sunday, July 13, at the Cranbrook Garden Club’s 27th annual Open Garden Day.
Tickets are now on sale, for $10 (map included) at Top Crop, Huckleberry Books (cash only), and Interior Seed and Casey's Greenhouse. On Sunday, July 13, the gardens on tour will be open to the public from 10 am to 3:30 pm.
The Open Garden Day — held on the second Sunday in July each year — is a self-guided tour. Purchased tickets provide a map as a guide to beautifully diverse gardens that are displays of living art and landscaping.
Featured on the tour this year:
• Jane Campbell and Layla Ewen (8TH Street South): Colin and Jane Campbell originally designed this backyard oasis for relaxation and peaceful enjoyment. Since the last time our garden was included in the annual Open Garden Day, big changes have happened. Jane Campbell and garden helper Layla Ewen work each year to expand the inhabitants of the garden by placing new perennials that will eventually make this a beautiful garden of color all season long.
• Joanne and Steve Weatherall (49th Street South): Joanne and Steve moved into their home in 1999. Since then the gardens have been built and revamped several times. Rock walls — featuring a variety of special rocks collected on area rock hunts — have helped define the spaces, and a second tufa bed has been added. Drip irrigation is in place for the vegetable and flower gardens. The latest addition to the garden is the greenhouse with raised beds, and a garden by Steve’s shop. Another rock wall is planned.
• Helena and Bill Barger (18th Avenue North): Since 2008, Helena and Bill have been expanding, adding gardens for flowers and vegetables along the sides and later corner gardens in the front yard near the driveway. Perennials abound.The gardens continue to evolve year after year, and the effort and additions are economical and manageable. The front yard enjoys the shade of a large 35-year-old birch tree.
• Mance and Paul Visentin (Pocha Rd): The front landscape is adorned by mature trees, including an apple tree, two sugar maples and a birch tree. The soft curved edging is filled with a mix of flowering shrubs, grasses, perennials and ground covers. Every couple years a few flower beds have been added. A ock path leads to a gazebo and nearby rock fire pit, a “pondless” waterfall and bridge. The flower beds are filled with roses, delphiniums, peonies, ground covers, ferns, hostas, succulents, climbing vines and many clematises. Raised vegetable gardens beds two greenhouses, laying hens and bee hives make these gardens about self-sustainability.
• Rick Ferrier and Corrine Holden (53rd Street South): The front yard has flowering rhododendron, saskatoons, haskaps, raspberries and a skeleton bed. The front area is full of flowering perennials to attract pollinators and the stream running from the house out to the road has robins bathing in it. There is a 13,000 gallon swimming garden with a floating island and a west coast cork and glass float ring housing water hyacinths. The back yard is full of flowering perennials and features a 5 ft bee blam and 7 ft yellow coneflowers. There are 11 bird of paradise strategically placed throughout the yard and 19 mullein plants for medicinal purposes. There is also an asparagus bed, cold-hardy blackberries, raspberries and saskatoons.
• Debbie and Kelly Shaw (Celia Rd.): This is a good reflection of a rural garden in the Cranbrook area. Half of the acreage is on a slope, well-suited for wildlife. The other half is fenced for gardens. It has a lot of bedrock outcroppings, scrub fir and pine trees. It is a warm sunny spot in summer with lots of birds - robins, chickadees, hawks, flickers, sparrows, crows, woodpeckers and local squirrels and gophers.New soil has been worked in. You will find many natural plant species, Zone 3 and 4 annual perennial plantings, some vegetables and fruits and a bedrock garden carved by the glaciers.
• Chris and Garry Burke (53rd Street South): The property was originally densely forested with a mix of evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs. A creek meandered through; ducks and geese swam in pools that formed in the low areas. And the canopy was a righteous chatter of song from the seemingly millions of birds. Gradually the land for pasture, a home, a barn and outbuildings were built. Chris and Garry preserved as much of the natural state as possible. The trimmed dead branches opened the canopy and encouraged healthy growth. We planted shrubs, both deciduous and evergreens, and started an orchard, a veggie garden, flower gardens, and small patches of lawn.
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The Open Garden Day is a showcase event for the Cranbrook Garden Club, which itself is a local institution. The Club was established in 1991 by Anita Peters, Jenny Humphrey, and Pat Adams. It has since grown to include 330 members.
On the tour you discover blooms, edibles, water features, statues, unique landscaping ideas as well as local artisans and educators such as Fire Smart, and Water Ambassador.
Money raised from this event goes towards beautification projects.
Some of the beautification projects include: Hospital planters, Green Home planters, the Seed Library at Cranbrook Library, the Rotary Fountain, the Cranbrook Tree of Life, which is in a different site every year and the city, decides where it will be planted.
Past beautification projects have been - Downtown Arches, Legion Cemetery, and many more.
The Garden Club also provides scholarships to Mount Baker Secondary School students.
