Tickets on Sale now for Public Garden Tour June 7, 2014

Master Gardeners of Greene County, Missouri

Contact Pat Ware at patspetals@gmail.com

Written by Jeanne Christakos Duffey, j-duffey@sbcglobal.net

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A carefully planned loop of eleven gardens makeup the day-long Spring Garden Tour sponsored by the Master Gardeners of Greene County and the Springfield Watergarden Society. The highly anticipated event will be held on Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Tickets are available now for $5 each and may be purchased in the Master Gardener Hotline Room at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., or at the following businesses: Garden Adventures, Maschino’s, Wickman Gardens and Schaffitzel’s Greenhouse. Tickets on the day of the tour are $7 each.

Here’s a run-down of the tour route, according to Master Gardener and Springfield Watergarden Society president Pat Ware:

·       Begin in central Springfield with a formal English garden designed with brick walkways, boxwood hedges and other plants.

·       Next is a magnificent conifer garden in southeast Springfield.

·       A large garden of daylilies, hosta and much more near Evans Road followed by an amazing shade garden with towering trees, hostas and Japanese maples near Fremont Hills and a fabulous l lakeside home featuring watergardens and formal landscaping at Nixa.

·       Drive by for a quick look at the Gardens at Woodfield or get out and walk the almost half-mile track of planted berms.

·       Head west to Clever to view a five-acre home with more than 100 varieties of identified trees and about 70 shrubs.

·       Go another few miles to Billings and see a three-acre garden featuring large watergardens.

·       Then travel to Republic to view another watergarden with lots of unusual garden art to make you think about what you might do with that old wagon or bike.

·       Head back to south Springfield for a manicured garden full of native plants.

·       Next stop is a garden packed with veggies of all kinds.

·       Last stop is an intimate garden with an incredible raised rock pond surrounded by shrubs, trees and loads of annuals.

“You can visit any garden on the tour at any time, in any order, during the designated times,” said Ware, “but the suggested route has been carefully driven and studied from many angles to make the most efficient use of time and miles. Directions are garden to garden in a large loop, so the last garden gives directions back to the first garden.”

Funds raised at the event will help the Springfield Watergarden Society promote watergardening and the Master Gardeners create and maintain the public gardens and staff the popular gardening Hotline at 417-881-8909, extension 320. Call 417-881-8909 for more information about the Spring Tour.

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