Sell-out crowd for Horticultural Society’s annual garden tour

By Mo Cranker on July 17, 2017.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

It was another successful year for the Medicine Hat and District Horticultural Society’s annual garden tour.

This year’s tour showcased eight houses across the Hat, and the group was once again able to sell out all 600 tickets to the self-guided tour.

“I think this is just one of those summer events people look forward to,” said the group’s communications director Mel Deydey. “This has been going on for 26 years and people really just look forward to going on the tour every year, stopping at all of the houses and talking to the homeowners.”

One of the biggest concerns for the tour is what the weather will be like the day of the tour, but Deydey said this year gave people near-perfect weather.

“We really got great weather for this year’s tour,” he said. “It’s nice and sunny outside, but it’s not sweltering hot and there is a bit of a breeze. We’re asking people to stay nice and hydrated so they can enjoy some of the beauty that this city has to offer.”

With the warm weather does come some annoyances said Deydey.

“The heat has a huge impact on the garden,” he said. “One of the biggest things we’re seeing is that people are doing a lot of extra watering. Maybe they were watering every two or three days, now with the heat, it can be needed daily. The other thing is that the heat really accelerates the blooming process. Some plants open up quicker with the heat, then they’re done. The gardeners need to keep that in mind.”

Deydey said one of the biggest attractions to each year’s tour is being able to mingle with each homeowner, and to get new ideas for your own garden setup.

“A lot of people are looking to see what the home owners have done,” he said. “Whether it’s the hardscape, the different things they’ve planted, the location of where things are planted or just to get ideas for their own garden and how they can update their own yards.”

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