Picture of one of the gardens that will be present on this year's tour. News Photo: Anna Smith.
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
City residents are invited to see the art of some of the greenest thumbs in town, as the Medicine Hat & District Horticultural Association hosts their annual garden tour Sunday.
This will be their 33rd year offering the tour to the public, said Mel Deydey with the Medicine Hat & District Horticultural Association. Prior to this, it had been a members-only event, but it is now a highlight of the summer for maybe people in the city.
“We seek out gardens throughout the city, to showcase and to give people ideas, or what they might be able to do in their own yards. And so we have a garden tour,” said Deydey.
Many of these gardens do not belong to members of the association, with in fact none of the selections this year belonging to someone who already has a membership. This is, in part, one of the ways that they find people who may be interested in joining them, through the recommendations of gardens that may be good for the tour.
The tour itself is self-guided, allowing those with a ticket to peruse the spaces at their own pace throughout the eight different locations selected for this year’s offerings.
The tour is not part of any competition, said Deydey, and in fact, part of the appeal is to be able to ask the gardeners questions about how they adapt their plans and their plants to the different microbiomes in the City.
“In Crescent Heights here, our soils are very sandy, and yet in the south, they have almost clay-like soils. So there’s always going to be different kinds of plants that will grow here, but won’t grow there and vice-versa. It’s good to be able to see what can be done in your area,” said Deydey.
Tickets for the tour are $10 per person, and are available at Blondie’s Gift and Garden, Windmill Garden Centre, the Tourist Information Centre on Gehring Road, and the Redcliff Public Library.
“We have four gardens that are north of the river and four that are south of the river. So this is a garden tour that encompasses the entire city,” said Deydey.
At the time of writing, tickets are still available for purchase, but Deydey encourages people to move swiftly to stay ahead of the last-minute crowd if they want to participate.
