Garden Walk™

On Saturday, June 12, 2010 we celebrataed the 20th Anniversary of the Annual Ann Arbor Garden Walk!  This year's tour was held from from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM and included six gardens in addition to the Gaffield Children's Garden at Matthaei Botanical Gardens.  Tickets  were $12 in advance, $15 on June 12th, and $3 for Students.   The ticket also included admission to the Conservatory at Matthaei (a $5 value).  Proceeds from the walk benefited Edible Avalon Community Gardens and UM Matthaei Botanical Gardens. 

A special treat on Sunday, September19th, 2010,  will be a re-visit to one of the most spectacular gardens that has ever been on the tour:

Garden #7, 5400 North Meadow Court (off Dixboro and just south of Pontiac Trail).

Please join us from noon until 4:00 pm as we get to see how this garden changes in the fall.  Tickets are $5 at the door.  No advance sales.  Plus, have a chance to view and purchase paintings of the June gardens by Chelsea Painters, or purchase a Fairy House by potter, Ruth Rycroft, or a rare hellebore that the garden owner has grown himself.

Thanks to all of the Farm & Garden members whose assistance made the Garden Walk successful.  And thanks to the many garden admirers in Ann Arbor who continue to support our endeavors year after year.  A recap of this years gardens follows:

  • Garden 1 - Sustainable Stone Garden.  This garden is based on a design philosophy emphasizing sustainability and low maintenance while maximizing functionality and aesthetics.  Permeable surfaces are used throughout for optimal storm water absorption and infiltration.  Terraces and paths were excavated and filled with gravel.  All roof water, driveway and sidewalk runoff now infiltrates on site.  The front garden features easily maintained raised planting beds made from Michigan fieldstone, separated by gravel paths and gathering areas.  The rear garden has undergone extreme grade changes for dramatic visual effect and to create level outdoor living spaces on a steep slope.  The space incorporates a gravel dining terrace, raised firepit, privacy fencing and ledge stone steps.  An old apple tree was preserved and incorporated into the design.  Evergreens, ground covers, bulbs, perennials, and numerous species of ferns carpet the slope.
  • Garden 2 - Cottage Charm.  Overlooking the Huron River, this Cape Cod home is a delightful mix of architecture and garden.  The artist's eye is apparent here, with an intermingling of loosely associated objects, flowing lines, and coherent structures.  Lovely white arbors seamlessly connect the house and artist's studio to the plantings.  The charming cottage-garden style grounds feature islands of plants between grassy paths leading into and around seating areas and sculptures.  A pebble path beckons through a French iron gate, and antique iron fence ornaments stake up tall flowers.  Fruit and vegetables intermingle with the flowers.  Two huge drooping Norway spruces shelter the garden from the road while providing a favorite hangout for the grandchildren.  The owners are potters and artists, specializing in Raku.  You are invited to stroll through their ceramics studio and maybe even make a purchase.
  • Garden 3 - Gaffield Children's Garden at University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens.  The Gaffield Children's Garden, officially opened in September 2009, offers a unique space for discovery and learning that reconnects children with nature in a creative, hands-on environment designed specifically for them.  Enter through the arched arbor, and a shallow running stream beckons nearby with perfect spots to splash.  The Grower's Garden, bursting with peas, tomatoes, beans and more, provides a hands-on experience in the delight of fresh-grown food.  Themed areas include a Sensory Garden of colors, smells and texures;  a Builders' Garden where natural materials await a child's imagination; a Habitat Garden for imagining the homes of wild animals; a Butterfly Garden, and a Fairy & Troll Knoll.
  • Garden 4 - Native and Natural.  This garden of mostly native plants was created for easy care.  The yard is a sanctuary for wildlife with birdbaths, bird feeders, birdhouses, and native seeds galore.  Rocks collected by and given to the gardener dot the yard.  Native plants thrive in the mesic woods.  Rain barrels provide most of the garden's water needs.  Be sure to look for the alpine garden, the small herb garden, and the grassy path leading to an idyllic spot overlooking a pond in the valley.  Watch for sheep in the meadow beyond the woods.
  • Garden 5 - Eccentric and Eclectic.  The unifying theme of this garden is water, both real and imagined.  The real water starts at a two-level sandstone waterfall, flowing through several small ponds into a naturalized pond and bog where frogs abound.  The imagined water flows through two dry fieldstone riverbeds.  The back-yard riverbed connects to the pond and serves as a path.  The other originates in a front-yard rock garden, connecting with a similar feature in Garden 6.  Look for interesting boulders, rocks, conifers and moss-covered tree carcasses .
  • Garden 6 - Bold and Beautiful.  Close your eyes and listen to eleven cascading waterfalls which culminate in a serene pond.  This dramatic water feature is viewable from all major rooms of the house as well as an elevated porch, which offers a pleasing tree-house view.  Using the existing contours of the land, the overgrown woods have been turned into a work of art that melds with its surroundings.
  • Garden 7 - A Collector's Country Garden.  Despite its mature looks, this stunning site is a very young cultivated garden skillfully blended into a larger native landscape featuring unspoiled, old growth woods and superb specimen trees.  Woody plants are the real stars of this garden.  Magnolias, witch-hazels, conifers, maples, stewartias, viburnums, hydrangeas, roses, mountain laurels and rhododendrons provide structure and interest all year.  Prominent among the plantings are hellebores collected from England and North America, blended with epimediums, perennial geraniums, clematis, grasses, asters, and hundreds of others.  Look for the enchanting hardscape throughout, including the Mediterranean courtyard, patio, greenhouse, and sleeping porch in the back garden.  A native prairie and pond are being developed on the adjacent three-acre site.