Submitted by Lopez Island Garden Club
Four distinctly different gardens created by four fascinating Lopezians are on this year’s Garden Tour. The first one we want to talk about is Denah Feldman’s new garden at their new location on School Road. If you’ve ever been to her old garden I’m sure you were as blown away as I was. Well, she’s done it again; beautiful, healthy plants laid out in the most artistic way. Most of the gardening is done by Feldman but you can see the heavy-duty work her husband Ron Norman has done also – ponds, beautiful beds and a mind-blowingly cool chicken coop! The thing about Feldman’s plants that is the most impressive is that she propagated almost every single plant. When you see it ask yourself, “How in the world did she do this?” I think she uses a little magic. Maybe you can get her to tell you some of her secrets when you go.
The second garden is Marnie Reynold’s. I asked her once “Marnie, do you work out?” and she said, “Yeah, I work in my garden,” and you’ll see why she looks so good – it’s because her garden does! Laid out so beautifully and functionally with perennials, bulbs, fruits and veggies and with the coolest greenhouse. We just had the Garden Club plant sale, and there were a lot of tomato starts. Her tomatoes were three or four times taller than the others. Man! She’s got this gardening thing figured out.
Now Susan Bill’s garden is a horse of a different color, or I should say a garden of every color. Where does this power come from that Bill harnesses to flow into these absolutely drop-dead gorgeous cutting beds? I think she has a deal with Mother Earth and we want some of that deal. If you’ve ever seen her fabulous arrangements and bouquets for sale you think that the flowers have come from several different sources around the world. Nope. All Bill. Your expectations cannot be high enough for this one.
The last on our list is Dave McRoberts. If you’ve wondered what’s going on in the old pharmacy and Lopez Island Creamery you’ll find out a lot has gone into creating the most lovely and liveable garden space full of charm and function all condensed into an area out the back of the kitchen. It’s obvious from this display what a fun and creative guy McRoberts is. I didn’t want to leave!
There you have it garden fans. A very special day with very special gardens and gardeners on a delightful tour of creativity and the natural splendor of our beautiful island lays ahead for you from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. Tickets are $10 for garden club members and $15 for everyone else. They’re available at Southend General Store, Paper, Scissors on the Rock, Lopez Bookshop and Blossom.
