Garden Walk 2010

After a several year hiatus Saginaw decided to have a garden walk this year. I bought my ticket and was able to get to three gardens before being at my designated garden for the rest of the afternoon as a volunteer for the Master Gardener’s. And what lovely gardens there were to see!



The Picard garden gives the flavor of a tropical island, complete with pool and tiki bar. I love the idea of putting a rather invasive grass sunk into the ground in a pot and then surrounded by stone. What a good idea!



My assigned destination for the rest of the afternoon was the Rios garden. Suc a treasure in the heart of the city and not too far from the Hoyt Library where I have worked for the past 30 years. Even though the weather was a bit brisk and of course I didn’t dress properly (I think this is summer and I seem to forget that this is also Michigan) the afternoon was a pure delight.





This garden has a front section and a back section; the front is a sunny area with many sun perennials including Maltese Cross and Joe Pye Weed. There is a lovely pond, complete with fountain and fish.


The back area of this garden is quite shaded and has a super collection of hostas among many other shade loving plants. The white impatiens set off all the different shades of green. These colors combined just lovely!





The Rios garden also has a number of roosters and chickens. I suspect slugs are at a minimum here. What a useful pet to have!

And to complete this wonderful afternoon those of us who came to this garden were given a tour of this wonderful 1886 house that is in the process of being restored to its’ original splendor. All in all it was a find day for a garden walk and I hope it is held again next year.

What is blooming in my garden right now? Well everything is about 2 weeks early this year, probably helped along by a lot of rain and some sporadic warm weather. The alliums are at their peak right now and I also have a clematis that is blooming its’ head off. This is a plant I added to my garden last summer so of course I an exceedingly pleased.




I also have hollyhocks starting to bloom and the roses are weighing the netting they hang from down they are so thick. I have some pots with wave petunias, a plant that cannot help but please.




Soon I will be harvesting garlic and once the basil takes off there will be pesto. Can tomatoes be far behind? Bring on the summer! I am ready to eat!