Photo courtesy of Escanaba Seven gardens in the Escanaba area will be open to visitors for the annual “Gardens in Bloom” garden walk on Sunday, July 21. The gardens include two large country gardens, three small urban gardens, a garden on Lake Shore Drive and a lakeside garden. Visitors are welcome to visit the gardens in any order.
ESCANABA — Seven Escanaba-area gardens will be open to visitors for the annual “Blooming Gardens” garden walk on Sunday, July 21. The walk will begin at 1 p.m. and end at 4 p.m.
The gardens include two large country gardens, three smaller urban gardens, the Lake Shore Drive garden, and the lakeside garden. Visitors are welcome to visit the gardens in any order.
The Danforth Road Garden's front yard is a far cry from the whimsical artwork and colorful flower beds that lie beyond the deer fence. Instead, the garden is filled with tools, hardware, and driftwood reimagined as garden objects. Even functional elements like a clothesline and plant rack have become the creative couple's canvases.
The second country garden is actually several gardens: a wildflower and native cut garden, a vegetable patch (housed in a territorial wren), and a place to socialize and relax. Mown paths wind through the unmown parts of the five acres.
All three urban gardens provide privacy, beauty and functionality in a small space. The garden next to the fairgrounds, one of Delta County's most public places, features long, gracefully curving flower beds set against a white fence. The garden on the south side is slightly elevated and barely noticeable from the street corner. Another garden to the south commands a strong presence with colorful flowers and flower beds on the street side. Pots of annuals are moved when a spot of color is needed. The backyard is lush, private and inviting.
Although the gardens on Lake Shore Drive were created only a few years ago, they were created by an ambitious, accomplished gardener. Garden ornaments and plantings were arranged at the rear of the house to create a space for dining and conversation. Flower beds at the front and side of the house enhance the charm of this historic home on a corner lot.
Tickets with maps are available for purchase at Gust Asp's, Pam's Posies and Wickert Floral in Escanaba, and Trotter's Floral and Frame Farm in Gladstone. Cost is $10. Tickets can be purchased at Gust Asp's on the day of the tour or at each garden.
The Bay de Noc Gardeners, Delta County Master Gardeners Association and MSU Extension sponsor the walk, which benefits local projects such as the roundabout, municipal dock plantings and the historic gardens at Ludington Park, as well as the annual Bay de Noc Spring Gardening Conference, held each April at Bay College.
For more information about the Garden Walk, call 906-399-3237.
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