An annual growing season treat is about to begin in our local area, Belfast Garden Club’s Open Garden Days. The 5th annual event, features 14 gardens from Belfast to Searsport, Jackson to Orland and in between. One garden per week will be open to the public from 10-4 Fridays, from May 28-September 10. The garden tour offers a diverse range of gardens and grounds, from relatively new gardens to 30 year projects, gardens started from scratch or modified from old landscaping on historic sites. Among the varied list of Open Gardens this season are English style formal gardens, organic experiments, butterfly gardens, a Zen Garden, a Farm, the Troy Howard Middle School garden project, and The New Forest Institute’s “edible forest”. As the season progresses, witness the change in plants in bloom, from flowering trees and bushes, to fragrant flowers, herbs, nuts and berries. In addition, visitors can expect to see succulents, an orchid collection, unusual bulb flowers, rare perennials and trees, and New England heritage plants over the course of the summer tour. See how different gardeners design, plant and manage their gardens, and how what they plant makes each garden different. Garden features to be on the lookout for include historic architecture, birdhouses, birdbaths, rock walls, garden sculpture, ponds and fountains. Participants of the Garden Tour can take advantage of the knowledge of the gardeners to answer questions and help solve their own garden challenges. The gardens of the 2010 Tour feature raised vegetable beds, composting systems, cold frames, a garlic berm, a non-pesticide “eco-lawn”, “lasagna style” planting method, dome trellises for squash and cucumbers, water collection systems, mulched beds and more! Many of the gardeners will be on hand to answer questions, and several will offer special demonstrations, iced tea, or a place to lay your blanket for a picnic (bring your own). Details are available in the Tour brochure, available in the decorative birdhouses in the Post Office Square garden in Belfast, and on the Belfast Garden Club website. Tickets can be purchased at each garden, on the day of the tour for a donation of $4 for one garden, or $15 for a five-visit ticket. Proceeds from the 2010 Garden Tour will benefit the Club’s civic beautification projects. For more information call: Diane Allmayer-Beck at 338-5748, Martha Laitin at 948-2815, or visit www.belfastgardenclub.org. (from maineevents.com)

http://www.belfastgardenclub.org

• September 10 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
  and every Friday until September 10th
  September 10, 2010 10:00 to September 10, 2010 04:00
• Belfast Garden Club
  Midcoast, Maine
• Contact Martha Laitin for more information
  207-948-2815 or belfastgardenclub@gmail.com