BETHANY BOOY PHOTO
Interested in growing a kiwi vine? Talk to Bethany Booy whose garden is on the Urban Retreats Garden Tour on June 20.
LYNNE HERMISTON PHOTO
A food gardener’s delight: visit a raised bed garden filled with veggies and herbs on this year’s MMGA garden tour.
VAL THOMSON PHOTO
A five-acre garden is one of many featured on this year’s tour of Birtle and Area Gardens.
ROSWITHA NOWAK PHOTO
Can you name this exotic daylily? Nature Manitoba’s Gardens of Distinction Tour is a chance to see many unique plants.
The first garden tour of the season starts on Saturday, June 20. Celebrating its 27th season, the Urban Retreats Garden Tour will feature 12 gardens in the Norwood area of Winnipeg, each showcasing its own unique landscape and character, says Shirley Godkin, longtime garden tour co-ordinator.
The Urban Retreats Garden Tour, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is a major fundraiser for 1JustCity, a Winnipeg-based non-profit which supports three core community drop-in centres. “Last year, the tour raised $35,000 in support of 1JustCity,” Godkin says.
Tour tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.1justcity.ca/gardentour. Tickets are also available at several local garden centres. A full list is available on the website.
The tour also hosts the Manitoba Tea, Craft and Plant Sale, which will be held the same day at the Norwood Community Centre from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.
Manitoba boasts a tight-knit gardening community, consisting not only of garden clubs and horticultural societies, but also enthusiastic friends and neighbours who share their gardening experiences with one another. On the Urban Retreats Garden Tour, you will meet two neighbours, Lenore Linton and Bethany Booy, who both grow edible landscapes and deal with the challenges of deer and rabbits.
Linton has maintained her spacious vegetable garden at the same address since 1962. A retired teacher who loves to share her gardening knowledge, Linton is driven by curiosity and enjoys testing different methods and plants with a focus on sustainability. Want to know what works and what doesn’t? Ask Linton.
In addition to numerous food plants, Linton also grows peonies, hydrangeas and perennials.
“My goal is to create interest throughout the season,” she says.
Booy, her close neighbour, is a young food gardener and artist who makes natural dyes from plants, uses wool pellets to retain moisture in her soil and enjoys foraging.
Would you like to grow edibles in containers? Interested in growing hardy kiwi? Talk to Booy, who grows a male and female kiwi vine. She also grows more than 30 native species. Her front yard features a rain garden and wild plums that spill over the fence. Booy and Linton are just two of the gardeners you will meet on this year’s Urban Retreats Garden Tour which features a range of garden styles from courtyards to terraced, water-wise front yards, a sculpture garden — even a beekeeper’s garden and the chance to buy honey.
The garden in June is a time of rapid growth and peak bloom for favourite flowers such as peonies, irises, lilacs and alliums. But then comes July’s garden. which brings a kaleidoscope of heat-loving blooms. There are several self-guided tours on offer throughout July as well as private tours.
Nature Manitoba’s Gardens of Distinction tour happens on Saturday, July 4. The annual self-guided tour is Nature Manitoba’s main fundraising event. This year’s tour will showcase 13 home gardens in northeast Winnipeg. Tour-goers will also visit a community garden, along with a plant sale at the Seven Oaks Arboretum. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.naturemanitoba.ca or at retail locations listed on the website.
“Our garden tour has a vast assortment of varied gardens which also contain plants you would never see in garden centres,” says Tim Evans, garden tour co-ordinator.
Roswitha Nowak, whose garden is featured on Nature Manitoba’s tour, is a keen garden photographer.
“I love irises, peonies, daylilies and martagon lilies which are just starting to set their buds,” she says. “I have a small yard with seating areas so people can relax and enjoy. My garden doesn’t follow any of the rules. It’s about plants that I absolutely adore and cherish.”
Nowak grows two different milkweed plants to attract monarch butterflies. In another area of her garden, she grows parsley to attract swallowtail butterflies.
“It’s about connecting with nature at different levels,” she says. Nowak also grows a variety of herbs in containers. Nature Manitoba’s tour will also feature a hidden sanctuary, a Japanese-style garden with decades-old bonsai trees, cottage gardens and more.
On Saturday, July 11, in Portage la Prairie, the annual Holiday Avenue Project Garden Tour features eight gardens. Beautiful Island Park will be the setting for local musical entertainment, silent auction and local artists creating their artwork in the garden. Tickets are $25. Email holidayaveproject@gmail.com.
Also on July 11, from 1 to 4 p.m., the Manitoba Regional Lily Society (MRLS) invites you to visit Leanne Dowd’s garden at 212 Strawberry Lane, Neepawa. Known as Alice’s Wonderland, Dowd’s garden was featured in the documentary series Ageless Gardens. This one-acre garden is home to a vast collection of lilies, including the MRLS Heritage Garden, as well as hundreds of peonies, roses and clematis. There is no cost for the event. Private tours can also be arranged by emailing leannekiss.lk@gmail.com.
On Sunday, July 12, Birtle Centre for the Arts hosts a tour of several unique gardens including Val Thomson’s spectacular five-acre garden, along with a potager, knot garden and a forest project. Tickets are $10. The tour starts at Birtle Centre for the Arts, 671 Main St. in Birtle. For more information visit www.birtlearts.ca.
On Saturday, July 18, the Manitoba Master Gardener Association (MMGA) hosts its annual garden tour. Eleven gardens in southwest Winnipeg will be on display. Visit one of Winnipeg’s most talked about gardens (I’ll keep the location a secret until you buy your ticket) along with a backyard paradise that has manicured walking trails, a waterside property with a herb spiral, a cutting garden, wildflower garden and more.
Marie Grouette and Lynne Hermiston are both master gardeners whose gardens are on the MMGA tour. Grouette has a passion for topiary. She has created a low-maintenance garden filled with flowering perennials — an ideal place for relaxation.
“The sound of the wind when you’re sitting on your patio having an iced tea, listening to the sound of the water feature and watching all the birds — this is why I garden,” Grouette says.
Hermiston’s garden is a food gardener’s delight. Picture a beautifully designed, raised-bed garden lushly planted with vegetables and herbs. Questions about harvesting and preserving your own food? Ask Hermiston!
Brandon Open Garden Tours is a free weekend event on July 18 and 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit private and public gardens. For details on where to obtain your garden passport, visit https://www.brandon.ca/parks-recreation/events/annual-events/open-gardens/.
Red River North Tourism Garden and Art Tour will take place on Sunday, July 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit private gardens and a public garden in St. Andrews, St. Clements and Selkirk. Enjoy the works of talented artists, watch live demonstrations and stroll through the gardens while listening to live music performed by local musicians. For tickets and more details, visit https://www.redrivernorthtourism.com/-garden-and-art-tour.
There is also a rare opportunity this summer to book a private tour of gardens at Riding Mountain National Park with Lyndon Penner, head gardener, as your guide. A minimum of six people is required, or a maximum of 12. Garden tours can be booked anytime between Monday and Friday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. To inquire, please email lyndon.penner@pc.gc.ca.
