Mark your calendar for summer garden tours

There is every reason to be excited about this summer’s garden tours. We have had an extraordinary start to the growing season and the gardens are looking lush and beautiful. With July-like temperatures in late May and the first three weeks of June, many plants have bloomed earlier and grown faster. Discover an eclectic and inspiring range of garden styles that will help you design your own garden. Enjoy the opportunity to talk with garden owners and other gardeners. You will come away with new ideas for plants and garden design as well as free gardening advice.

It all starts next weekend on Saturday, June 24 with the Urban Retreats Garden Tour. This annual event is a major fundraiser for 1JustCity’s West End Drop-in. Featuring a self-guided tour of 12 gardens in the south St. Vital neighbourhood, the event also includes a tea, plant and craft sale at The United Church, 1111 Dakota St. “Our craft sale component is huge this year with over 20 artisans,” says Shirley Godkin, a longtime member of the organizing committee.

One of the tour’s highlights includes Henteleff Park, a 20-hectare gem that was first owned by a Métis family in 1874 and today preserves the site’s natural character. Volunteers from the Henteleff Park Foundation will provide information about the park and offer tours of the prairie restoration.

Loraine Purdy, whose garden is also featured on the Urban Retreats Garden Tour, describes her garden as a garden of opportunity.

“Most of my plants came from clippings from my mother’s garden in Muskoka, Ont., and from friends,” she says. Over the years she has exchanged plants with many friends and added to her collection of peonies, irises, lilacs, daisies, and more. Her emphasis is on a garden that blooms from May to September in a rainbow of colours.

Visitors to Evelyn Lundeen’s river property will have a chance to see a landscape that was designed with retaining walls and steps to solve the problem of drainage issues. This functional property has a beautiful backdrop of trees and numerous perennials. Lundeen, who is the editor of The Prairie Garden, hopes that some of her peonies will still be in bloom on the day of the tour but plants such as Delphinium Royal Aspiration, Delphinium Delgenius Breezin, along with roses, salvias and more are preparing to bloom in time for visitors.

The Urban Retreats Garden Tour is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine. Tickets are $20. For more details, visit 1JustCity.ca.

Also on June 24, the Manitoba Horticultural Association will host two tours of Futura Farms in St. Andrews at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors will have a chance to see hundreds of varieties of trees and shrubs that are being evaluated for hardiness and future introduction.

This is a rare opportunity to visit a research farm that is the site of the largest Dutch Elm disease project in Canada and gain a glimpse into the exciting work that is being done to develop resilient trees for the future. Meet Rick Durand, lead researcher and renowned prairie plant breeder, and Carl Durand, owner of Futura Farms, who is growing a range of prairie fruit crops to supply Manitoba’s fruit and drink market.

Tickets are $5. For more details, visit mbhorticulture.ca.

On Saturday, July 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nature Manitoba hosts its annual Gardens of Distinction Tour. The self-guided tour features 11 gardens in the St. James and Charleswood areas. Tim Evans, garden tour organizer, says that there are eight new, never seen private gardens on this year’s tour. The event also includes a plant sale at Living Prairie Museum, 2795 Ness Ave., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

One of the garden owners, Pam McKenzie, is passionate about roses and grows more than 30 rose bushes. Rosa Thérèse Bugnet, a hybrid rugosa rose, grew this year to eight feet, or 2.4 meters tall. Extremely hardy, it features fragrant, pink double blooms in June and a repeat bloom throughout the summer. McKenzie’s latest acquisitions include Marmalade Dream, a recent introduction by Charles Pilgrim, a Manitoba rose breeder; Yukon Sun, a shrub garden rose that is the latest offering in Vineland’s 49th Parallel Collection; and Gumball Goody (formerly Gumball Machine), a new tri-coloured introduction from Bloomin’ Easy.

Tickets are $20. For a list of retail locations where tickets can be purchased, visit naturemanitoba.ca.

The Manitoba Master Gardener Association hosts its annual garden tour on Saturday, July 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tour will feature 11 gardens in Fort Garry and Northeast areas of Winnipeg. Elsie Kathler, one of the tour’s organizers, says this year’s tour is a mix of small and large gardens that will give visitors the opportunity to be inspired by the garden owners’ creativity and to learn more about evolving trends in horticulture and design.

One of the gardens featured is Naomi Wiebe’s. Wiebe is a plant collector who grows more than 40 prized daylilies and more than 35 peonies. Visitors will have a chance to see unexpected treasures such as the Shredded Umbrella Plant (Syneilesis aconitifolia), a unique shade plant that is hardy to Zone 5.

Alyssa Rempel’s front yard and backyard gardens feature a wide range of native plants. Be sure to check out Rudbeckia laciniata Goldquelle, a handsome double-flowering cutleaf coneflower which she shares with her neighbour. Rempel is a graduate of the Greenspace Horticulture diploma program at Red River College and has worked extensively in the horticulture industry. Bring your gardening questions!

On Sunday, July 16, the Red River North Tourism Garden and Art Tour will welcome visitors to 14 locations in St. Andrews, St. Clements and Selkirk. Marilyn Williams, Red River North Tourism says that in addition to private gardens, the tour will also feature a vegetable co-operative and a perennial garden maintained by the Selkirk and District Horticultural Society. “We always encourage a visit to the gardens at Kennedy House,” says Williams. The tour will feature local artists and musicians. Tickets are $25 for the self-guided tour or $55 for the air-conditioned bus tour with lunch included. For tickets, visit redrivernorthtourism.com.

The Birtle & Area Garden Tour will be held on July 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shonda Ashcroft, tour organizer, invites you to visit this beautiful part of Manitoba for a chance to see large, rural gardens and small urban gardens. Val Thomson’s incredible five-acre masterpiece of a garden will be featured as well as two potager gardens, and much more.

Registration is $10 at Birtle Centre for the Arts, 671 Main St. Birtle. For more information, visit birtlearts.ca.

The City of Brandon Open Garden Tours will take place on the weekend of July 22 and 23. Several beautiful private gardens as well as public gardens and community gardens will be open to the public to visit for free. There will also be an opportunity to enjoy entertainment by local musicians and artists. Refreshments will be available. Watch out for the Open Garden Tours passport available the week before the event for tour locations and schedule. Visit brandon.ca/bloom/open-garden-tours.

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