Todd Braun
On July 12, the Charleswood Garden Club hosts a bus tour which will include a visit to the garden of Todd Braun, master stone carver.
Becki Thiessen
Nature Manitoba’s Gardens of Distinction Garden Tour is your chance to enjoy some of Manitoba’s most spectacular natural spaces.
Urban Retreats Garden Tour
The Urban Retreats Garden Tour is happening today. Get your ticket now to visit 14 beautiful gardens.
Shonda Ashcroft
The Garden Tour of Birtle and Area Gardens invites you to see a knot garden and a white garden, stroll through a mini forest, and much more on July 19.
In many ways it’s been a magical spring for gardens. Warm, summer-like temperatures in May gave plants a head start. Rainfall, albeit infrequent, has been gentle and just enough to fill rain barrels. Even the strong winds that Winnipeg is so famous for have given way to calm, still days.
Today, the first day of summer, is perfect timing for a garden tour.
The Urban Retreats Garden Tour is on today, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you haven’t bought your ticket yet, head on over to Prairie Spirit United Church, 207 Thompson Dr. Tickets are $20 and will be available starting at 9:30 a.m.
Celebrating its 26th year, the Urban Retreats Garden Tour is a major fundraiser for 1JustCity which supports three drop-in community centres — Pimicikamak, West Broadway and Oak Table — in Winnipeg’s core neighbourhoods.
“Last year, our tour earned over $30,000 for 1JustCity’s programs and drop-in centres, breaking previous records,” says Sara Arenson, promotion co-ordinator.
Enjoy a self-guided tour of 14 gardens in the Deer Lodge neighbourhood. Walk among flowers ranging from clematis to lavender, roses, hydrangeas and native wildflowers, to peonies, lady slipper orchids and more.
Sandra Venton, one of the garden hosts, grows more than 75 peonies and hundreds of martagon lilies, many of which are bursting into bloom. You will also discover gardens that have been planted with fruit orchards, as well as exotic plants, an eclectic outdoor art gallery brimming with flowers, a 100-year-old community garden that includes a food forest, and more.
The event also includes the popular Manitoba Tea, Craft and Plant Sale at Prairie Spirit United Church. Admission is $5 at the door.
Dalnavert Museum, 61 Carlton St., will host A Walk Through Thyme, Thursday through Sunday, starting July 3, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The unique house and garden tour is an opportunity to learn about the history of this Victorian mansion, built in 1895. Lemonade will be served on the veranda.
Tickets are $15 for adults. For more information, visit friendsofdalnavert.ca.
Nature Manitoba hosts its major annual fundraising event, Gardens of Distinction Garden Tour, on Saturday, July 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tour-goers will get to visit 14 beautiful gardens in south Winnipeg with designs inspired by Piet Oudolf, modernism, feng shui and Mother Nature. Listen to the soothing sound of water flowing, stroll along flagstone paths through woodland shade gardens and admire colourful, pollinator-friendly plants.
Take the opportunity to talk with garden owners and learn the different ways they reinvented their landscapes after losing massive, decades-old trees.
Aurora Farm in St. Norbert is featured on the Gardens of Distinction tour. It has numerous themed gardens, including a medicinal moon garden, tea garden and culinary herbs.
The event also includes a plant sale which will be held at Fort Whyte Alive, 1961 McCreary Rd. Tickets are $20. For tour details and locations to purchase tickets, visit naturemanitoba.ca. Tickets can also be bought the day of the event at Fort Whyte Alive, says Tim Evans, event co-ordinator.
The Charleswood Garden Club invites you to join them on a bus tour to Altona on July 12 to visit three exceptional gardens. The first stop will be at Elemental Stone, a two-hectare property that is home to the creations of famed stone artist Todd Braun.
Travel through winding pathways crafted from massive slabs of limestone through a series of breathtaking outdoor galleries framed by a diversity of trees. Braun, a master stone carver, will lead the tour. His sculptures range from small bird baths to estate-sized granite fountains and extraordinary creations that weigh thousands of kilograms.
The tour also includes a visit to Altona’s Gallery in the Park, which features a sculpture garden and a heritage home that is now an art gallery. Visitors will also learn about the Altona Community Garden and its orchard. Registration is $65. For more details and to reserve your seat on the bus, contact treasurer@charleswoodgc.ca. Don’t forget to pack a lunch.
The 3rd Annual Holiday Avenue Project Garden Tour in Portage la Prairie takes place on Saturday, July 12 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visit nine gardens including beautiful Island Park, as well as the winner of the 2024 Burgess Shield Award for Best Urban Home Grounds. The tour also includes an outdoor market. Tickets are $25, available at Solomon’s Home & Garden Gift, a greenhouse in Portage. For more information or to purchase tickets, email holidayaveproject@gmail.com.
July 19 will be the busiest weekend of the month for garden tours in Manitoba.
Let’s start in Winnipeg with the Manitoba Master Gardener Association’s Annual Garden Tour on July 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It features several beautiful gardens in the Kildonan and Transcona areas, and visitors will have a chance to talk with master gardeners.
Nanci Dagg, one of the garden hosts, has gone all out. She began buying plants at the beginning of May and has potted up more than 150 containers and numerous perennial beds.
“I travelled to over 25 garden centres this year in Winnipeg to Grunthal and to Winnipeg Beach,” she says.
Creative and imaginative, Dagg loves to experiment with unique repurposed containers that include vintage chimney liners and a marvelous yellow, claw-foot bathtub. Some of Dagg’s inspiration comes from her neighbour, Jacquie Lawson, whose 2.5-hectare garden will also be featured on the MMGA’s garden tour.
Dagg and Lawson enjoy sharing plant divisions and ideas. Lawson, who is a member of the Can-West Iris Society, grows dozens of spectacular irises and daylilies.
“What’s so lovely about irises and daylilies is the huge variety and all the different colours,” she says.
Lawson began developing her garden in 2019. She loves the challenge of growing a variety of plants that are not traditionally hardy to Zone 3b and has created microclimates in her garden. She hopes to have a water feature project completed in time for the tour. Do you also have plans for your garden space? Then you’ll enjoy talking with Lawson, who is brimming with ideas.
“When you have such a big open space, you need a plan — it’s been testing me to be more creative,” she says.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit mgmanitoba.com.
Birtle Centre for the Arts hosts its annual Garden Tour of Birtle and Area Gardens on July 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Val Thomson’s two-hectare garden, truly one of Manitoba’s most spectacular, will be featured along with several others. Works by local artists will be showcased.
Shonda Ashcroft’s garden features a knot garden with 150 plants, a mini forest that she has planted with more than 20 different tree species, a lovely white garden, and an allée lined with 22 hydrangeas.
The tour starts at the Birtle Centre for the Arts, 617 Main St., Birtle. Tickets are $10. Email info@birtlearts.ca or phone (204) 842-3846.
On July 19 and 20, the City of Brandon hosts Brandon’s Open Garden Tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Details are still being confirmed. Follow City of Brandon Parks & Recreation Services on Facebook for garden locations. Tickets are free.
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