Garden go-round: See what green thumbs can do
Welcome to my garden. Yes, please come in.
Four Yuma area gardeners will be extending just that invitation on Sunday, March 14.
That's the day for the 17th Annual Garden Tour sponsored by Pecan Grove Garden Club.
Yumans can usher in the spring season with a leisurely self-guided tour through four distinctive home gardens. Organizers say the event is an outstanding opportunity to see mature plants that fare well in Yuma's hot climate and to get landscaping ideas for the home.
Proceeds from the tour help support Pecan Grove Garden Club projects. The club sponsors two Girl Scout Troops and helps the girls prepare floral entries for the Yuma County Fair. The club also awards two scholarships for the Master Gardener class at the University Extension and conducts a poetry and essay contest with cash prizes. The club's principle project this year is planting 28 Sissoo trees, one at each elementary and middle/junior high school in Yuma.
Tickets for the Annual Garden Tour are $10, with children under 12 admitted without charge. Tickets are available at Highway Nursery, 4200 E. Highway 80; Yuma Nursery, 4405 S. Ave. A and Zinn Printing, 386 E. 16th St. Tickets will also be sold at each home on the day of the tour.
Trudy Gaunt's garden at 12645 S. Dorothy Drive allows visitors a peek at a home greenhouse large enough to accommodate orchids and her shade-loving plants in the summer. A swamp cooler inside provides cooling breezes. Her Foothills garden makes use of every available inch, with numerous unusual plants, many grown from cuttings or seeds. Trudy says her garden is her sanctuary, her stress reliever.
The undulating green of closely trimmed sage shrubs of John and Jackie Terry's garden at 13810 E. 50th Drive recalls English garden hedges and lends a private, peaceful atmosphere to this location. A path of stepping stones winds its way through a maze of Arborvitae trees, colorful annual beds, and water features. Here is a fountain, here is a pond with fish and turtles and then more bubbling fountains of many shapes and sizes. According to John, tending to his garden keeps him "out of trouble."
Mack and Marcia Duncan proudly acclaim that their garden at 14478 E. 55th St. is truly "food for the soul." The garden is a Certified Wild Habitat, a designation awarded by the Wildlife Federation. The purple and white heart of pansies just beyond the rose arbor celebrates the strength of a dear friend, according to Marcia. The Hong Kong Orchid tree is particularly beautiful this time of year and houses doves and other birds. Fish swim leisurely by, hoping to be fed.
People looking for a tropical paradise only need to drop by Tom and Gloria Bastien's at 1275 S. 28th Drive. Waving palms and colorful annuals decorate the front yard. Visitors may never know the grass is synthetic turf. The back garden patio is luxuriously shaded by a sunscreen with palms growing through. Tom says “It makes me think I'm not in hot Yuma.” The sound of water falling down into the fish pond adds to the quiet, peaceful ambience.
