The city was in full bloom Sunday afternoon as green-thumb enthusiasts set off on the Guelph Horticultural Society Annual Garden Tour.
“There must have been 500 people through here today,” said John McGimsie who, along with his wife Mary, hosted visitors to their home and Sugar Bush Splendour garden on Pickwick Place.
The garden features several varieties of hosta, vegetables, perennials and shade trees as well as a number of large rocks they found when they were building the home 35 years ago.
“I inherited my love of gardening from my grandfather,” said McGimsie. “I used to love running through his garden.”
This year’s self-guided garden tour featured seven locations throughout the city. Many people started with a visit to Sweetnam House on Hwy 7 East where Ann Hollings and Alex Harrington maintain a two-acre country garden.
“I don’t always distinguish between the flowers we intended to grow and the weeds,” said Harrington. “If it looks nice I let it grow.”
Garden lovers are not limited to the human variety and there are feeders along the wooded paths to attract many of the furry and feathered residents at the farm. Hollings and Harrington have found a creative way to keep critters from eating everything in the garden.
“We grow tomatoes, squash and potatoes in the box of our 1948 Chevy truck,” said Hollings. “It has worked pretty well so far.”
Two cultural traditions came together at A Generational Garden on Ottawa Crescent. Paul and Dawn Keating bought the property from Paul’s aunt in 2004. The home and garden has been in the family for 62 years and blends Italian and English characteristics.
It includes a wide variety of flowers, vegetables and hedge grows as well as water features and an Italian pizza oven.
Paul’s cousin Ann Boyle-Croft grew up in the home and painted a Tuscan fresco on the north wall of the grapevine covered gazebo as a tribute to her parents.
“My parents built this house when my mother was pregnant with me,” said Boyle-Croft. “It is nice to be able to come home.”
The next stop on the tour was Arthur Street On the Banks of the Speed River in the gardens of Leanne Johns and Stan Kozak. They bought the property in 2001 and began excavating the gardens in 2004. The grounds of the semi-detached stone home, built in 1875, is populated by a wide assortment of native and non-native flora and fauna
“We have lots of wildlife including toads, leopard frogs, snakes, snapping turtles and eight species of birds including Canada Geese and a Screech Owl,” said Kozak. “I used to feed the beavers but then I had to put in tree guards so they wouldn’t take down all the trees on the property.”
Kevin and Beverleigh Broughton bought their home on Brazolot Drive 19 years ago and have gradually expanded the size and scope of the garden they call A Shelter in the South End.
“I started with a vegetable garden and then I started going on tours of the Arboretum,” said Kevin. “We emulated what we saw and are trying to grow more wildlife friendly plants to attract butterflies and other pollinators.”
Gardening has been a passion for Merle Griffin since she moved into her townhouse on Water Street in the winter of 1992 and that passion has spread to other tenants at Village on the Green.
“Many people are downsizing and they are coming here to get ideas,” said Harriet Hull from the Guelph Horticultural Society.
Griffin and her neighbours have utilized every inch of their gardens with a wide variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables.
“I have a small garden with a large heart,” said Griffin.
The last stop on the tour was the home of Larry and Marti Valeriote on Elmhurst Crescent.
“Marti is the gardener,” said Larry as he served up barbecued sausage to hungry garden hoppers.
His cousin Anita Valeriote played the cello as Marti showed people around the Labour of Love gardens at the front and back of their home.
She cautioned visitors about the addictive quality of gardening.
“Once you start you have to keep going,” said Marti. “I am always coming up with new ideas and just started a new fairy garden this year.”