By Joette Kunse
Special to the Clarkston News

Cathy and Michael Mooney’s garden will be one of the six gardens featured on the 2023 Clarkston Garden Walk next Wednesday, July 19, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Clarkston Garden Walk is sponsored by the Clarkston Farm and Garden Club.
The Mooneys moved from Cascade on the west side of the state to Clarkston about six years ago. They purchased one of the historic Miller family homes on Clarkston Road, which was built in 1915 according to the Independence Historic Sites Survey. The home had a larger acreage at one point, and the Mooneys were told that it had been a Christmas tree farm.
But as Cathy started her gardening at her new home, she found lots of rocks and cement in the ground around the home. With the help of her children and grandchildren, the natural brush was cleaned out and the ground was restored to just good dirt and the gardens started to appear.
When asked where she got her ideas for the garden, Cathy said she had a “family and friends garden” in her former home, meaning that family and friends bequeathed her with their plants. She also looks at magazines for ideas. She added that “planting isn’t permanent,” so you can move plants if needed.
She loves the colors purple, yellow and red, so that is her palette for the garden. Hostas are a favorite plant that serve as the backdrop for her colorful perennial plants such as black-eyed Susans and sunflowers.
The Mooneys have been working on the grass this year. They have a large, old Beech tree in the backyard that has kept the grass from growing in previous years.
Cathy uses red, gold and brown mulch in the yard and will be happy to tell visitors to her garden why at the Garden Walk.
Cathy’s husband, Michael, is a woodworker and has built her a bridge and an arbor for the garden. Their nine-year-old twin grandsons, Edison and Garrett, shared they earned some money by working in the garden. They recounted that they made the cash by picking up black walnut pieces, moving rocks, and spreading mulch for their grandparents’ garden. Their grandmother is teaching them to drive the lawnmower this summer.
The Clarkston Garden Walk will showcase six gardens, including the Mooney garden, next Wednesday. Gardens featured include a classical French garden, a cottage garden, a botanical garden with many tree specimens, a garden with 10 waterfall drops and a natural overlook of the pond and waterfalls, and gardens with varieties of plantings and some unique garden art.
Tickets are available at Bordine’s, 8600 Dixie Highway), The Gateway, 7150 N. Main Street, and the Clarkston Independence District Library, 6495 Clarkston Road, as well as online at ClarkstonGardenClub.org. Ticket prices are $15 through Tuesday, July 18. Tickets will be sold only on the library grounds ticket tent on the day of the event for $18.
Several area artists and musicians will be painting and playing in the individual gardens on the day of the Walk. Area restaurants will have lunch and dinner specials. An artisan market will be open to the public on the grounds of the library from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit ClarkstonGardenClub.org or on Facebook at Clarkston Garden Club. The Clarkston Farm and Garden Club is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023 as an organization.

PHOTO: Cathy Mooney stands in her garden with twin grandsons Edison and Garrett with a week to go before the Clarkston Garden Walk, a popular event around town every summer. Photo: Provided by Joette Kunse