Ten new gardens will be showcased in the 10th Castlegar and Area Garden Tour this Sunday.
Well, that’s true except for one, Nora Jukes of the Castlegar Garden Club said. One garden, owned by Joanne Jackman and Craig Tatton was featured a few years ago, however they’re the new owners of the 14th Avenue property and have redesigned it.
Jukes said they try to have new gardens each year. Many of this year’s gardens were found through a mix of word-of-mouth and happenstance.
“I’ve been trying for eight years to get this garden on the tour,” Jukes said of Betty and John Osachoff. The couple has been working on their garden for 48 years on their Ootischenia Road property.
This year most of the gardens are concentrated in Kinnaird and Ootischenia. Jukes said they do this on purpose because it’s too tough for people to hit every garden if they have to drive too far.
An example she gave was 2006’s tour where gardens spanned from Genelle to Tarrys.
Each year, one of the homes acts as the home base for the garden club. This year it will be Jennifer Cheveldave in Ootischenia.
“At her place we are having our information table,” Jukes explained, which includes club information, history and past involvement. This year there will also be plants for sale.
“She has the music of the Wind River Quartet so it’ll be a lovely ambiance there,” Jukes said.
Even though this year’s tour isn’t even complete yet, Jukes said club members are always on the lookout for gardens to feature in the future.
“This year especially we’re trying to get people to come forward and say, ‘yeah, I think mine might be ready next year,’” she said.
Each year the club aims to have six to eight new gardens, and Jukes said this year they lucked out with all 10.
“We have a lot of new members now to draw on for ideas and new gardens to show,” Jukes said. The club has now swelled to over 50 members.
The garden tour runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call Jukes at 365-6753 or email castlegargardenclub@shaw.ca.
Castlegar and Area Garden Tour 2011:
1. Kat and Bruce Enns – 602 Tamarack St.
2. Doug and Marilyn Morisseau – 1708 Greenwood Dr.
3. Jodi and Mayor Lawrence Chernoff – 2513 6th Ave.
4. Jim and Ellen Menzies – 2325 5th Ave.
5. John and Bonnie Thompson – 2612 Columbia Ave.
6. Joanne Jackman and Craig Tatton – 3617 14th Ave.
7. Judy and Craig Gutwald – 880 Waterloo Rd.
8. Jennifer Cheveldave – 876 Waterloo Rd.
9. Betty and John Osachoff – 562 Ootischenia Rd.
10. Marc Conacher and Mirja Vahala – 3900 Broadwater Rd.