I don’t think I need to tell you this is one of the best times of the year to enjoy roses and just generally garden colours.
I recommend taking a Sunday drive around the many beautiful Central Okanagan neighbourhoods and get some ideas for your own property.
Then again, wouldn’t it be better and much more comfortable to be invited into several gardens with no concerns about taking pictures and asking questions about what you see?
We are fortunate to have two garden tours this month that enable people to do just that.
The first one took place last Saturday, the 17th annual Kelowna Garden Tour.
If you missed that opportunity to wind your way through Kelowna to large estate properties in vineyard and city settings, relaxing backyard retreats, heritage gardens and an urban farm, another similar event is coming up this weekend.
By the way, funds raised from last weekend’s event will go to support such gardening initiatives as Growing Chefs, an elementary classroom gardening and cooking program sponsored by the Okanagan Chefs Association, and Central Okanagan Community Gardens, helping neighbourhoods and communities create sustainable green spaces for gardening, food production, gathering and education
But coming up this Saturday is the annual Lake Country Garden Tour, which has been held for a number of years.
This time, nine gardens will be part of the tour, open for viewing on Saturday, June 21.
Master Gardeners will be on hand at each property to answer all your questions and there will be at least one artist in each garden displaying their art.
At three of the properties, there will be special garden related presentations.
The first is a planting demo by Heather Doheny entitled Tablescape and Patioscape…outside the box, at 10 a.m. and noon.
At 11 a.m. and 1p.m., Ken Salvail will give a talk on Pesticide free Gardening.
At noon and again at 3 p.m., the Invasive Species Council of BC will present a talk on Invasive Ornamental Plants.
On top of all that, several sponsors will be offering discounts on their products and there will be a “Toonie” raffle as well.
Tickets for this event can be purchased at Kel-Lake Greenhouses, Woodsdale General Store, Winfield IDA, The Greenery, Bylands Garden Centre, Art Knapp Plantland in Kelowna and Vernon.
Whether you are an avid gardener or just appreciate beautiful gardens, taking a home garden tour is the best way to source ideas and enjoy a beautiful Okanagan day in June.
