A single echo beats in the background at every garden featured on the Clarkston Farm and Garden Club’s 13th annual Garden Walk on July 18 – “You can do this.”
Like at Karen Wiltfang’s home on Dixie Highway.
“Everything is bigger,” Wiltfang says of the plants remaining from six years ago when she first opened her garden. But a few unplanned incidents like fire in a garage next door damaging her trees and melting siding along the back beds; re-laying the septic field dictating what needed to be moved and revised what could be planted to replace it; and expanding the front to accommodate plants needing to be relocated, also meant continuing her passion for gardening.
The best time to work in the yard is 6 a.m. Sometimes, when a project like relocating the storage shed bubbles up, re-working the landscape makes for some long days, she said.
Which none of the gardeners on this year’s walk seem to shy away from.
Janie Loutzenhiser, whose garden is making an encore appearance since appearing on the first garden club walk in 2006, is another example of a hands-on gardener who doesn’t enjoy her garden any less today than she did when she first started working it 25 years ago. The transformation of a garden over time is magical.
Like the other gardens showcased in this year’s walk, six altogether, Loutzenhiser does almost all the work herself, sometimes calling on a persuadable family member or significant other, but mostly doing the planning, shopping, digging, weeding and watering and, yes, experimenting it takes to develop these breath-taking gardens. Those themes of livable, doable, approachable, and alive are marked in all this year’s showpieces. While all unique, and worked by people who have never met in private gardens they’ve never seen, surprising similarities sometimes occur.
“These are do-it-yourself gardeners,” says Vickie Little, who volunteers with this year’s Walk committee. “Anticipate a lot of different things by gardeners who are sharing doable, realistic gardens that have a lot of personality.”
All the gardeners are anxious to track the success of new plants and those moved from other locations; all attest to the value of mulch, regular weeding and knowledgeable vendors; all pride themselves on the diversity of their plants, in color, texture, and needs. All are willing to share their knowledge with others. Most homeowners will be available to answer questions. A list of plantings will be available at all the gardens the day of the walk. Garden Club members, many of them master gardeners and all of them experienced gardeners, will be available at each site, as are musicians and artists.
The walk is 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 18, with the Artisan Market at Clarkston Independence District open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets are $15 before the walk at Bordine’s, Clarkston Chamber of Commerce, The Gateway, Harrisons, and Clarkston Independence District Library. On the day of the walk, tickets are $18 at the booth on the library grounds. Returning is an Artisan Market on the library grounds and restaurant specials for Garden Walk attendees at several area restaurants.
This major fundraiser helps the club, marking its 70th anniversary this year, support the downtown planters and the library grounds, plant- and environment-based programs for students and teachers, and finance college scholarships.
Additional information is available at 248-620-3131 or www.clarkstongardenclub.org. Meanwhile, bring your cameras – and your notebooks.
– Susan Sajdak