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| 2010 Secret garden Tour |
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| BESSEMER - The Garden Event of the
Year took place Thursday evening. The Annual Secret Garden Tour,
hosted by the 46th parallel Planters was held in
Bessemer, MI. The 2010 tour was well conceived garden expo with a
variety of wonderful gardens for local garden buffs to view.
The tour was spread out over north and south Bessemer and included one home that offered great views of the area. Mother Nature has a say in what our gardens look like, by provided natural beauty for the stage backdrop. |
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The tour began at the Iron Street garden of Ingrid Elkire. Ingrid’s garden offered a wonderful display of color. Her garden had a sizable area of shade and part shade and Ingrid did a great job of mixing textures and color in those challenging areas. There were formal gardens along the yard’s edges and decorative birdhouses were used to accent the gardens. |
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| The Longyear Street was the second stop on the tour. It was the terrific garden of Debbie Carey. Debbie’s garden as did Ingrid’s garden, demonstrated how nice of a garden can be created on an average size city lot. In fact, one of things that caught my attention right away was Debbie’s small but very effective planting at the base of the power pole at the curb. Several popular flowers are used to draw your attention away from pole. It was simple and yet very effective. There is always something to learn and ideas to take home whenever you go on one of these tours. |
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| Debbie’s garden has wonderful
flower beds reminiscent of an English Cottage Garden.
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| pictured above left - Ingrid Alkire hosting garden tour at her Iron Street residence |
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| Pictured below (left) Bessemer gardener Debbie Carey |
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After a most enjoyable stop at Debbie’s garden, the tor moved south and up…..and up. The third garden visited by the touring gardeners was at the home of Mary Kovacevich. Mary is a 92 year old gardener and a retired Navy Nurse. |
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Mary has served our nation in three wars, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Mary at age 92 certainly deserves to be a gardener and enjoy the quiet joy that comes with being a gardener. Mary’s home and garden are situated high up on the Bessemer hillside. When resting in Mary’s garden you not only enjoy Mary’s planting, but the beautiful vistas provided by Master Gardener Mother Nature! |
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| Obviously extensive gardening in Mary’s yard required a great deal of terracing. The results were wonderful. Mary also has a vegetable garden on the east side of her yard. |
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| Pictured above - Gardener Mary Kovacevich at her hillside garden |
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| The 2010 garden tour finished up at the country garden of Caroline Rigoni. Members of the 46th Parallel planter’s set up tables and offered refreshments at Caroline’s garden. It was the perfect choice for the event. Caroline’s large country setting offered several gardens and garden features that would do Elisabeth Sheldon proud. Sheldon, an author, is “the” authority on Perennial gardens. |
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| above - gardener Caroline Rigoni fancying her Snowball Bush. |
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Caroline has a large country yard and her gardens are full of color. At age 87 Caroline is an avid an active gardener. Touring the gardens with her was a wonderful experience. A typical gardener, she pointed to the things that she didn’t care for and how she would be changing it next year. I told her that her yard was perfect and to sit back and enjoy it. We all did. |