Tour showcases local gardens

Bonnie Hannigan’s garden is a mix of

food and beauty.

She mixes her peas and peonies. Her

spinach and sunflowers mingle. Nary a patch of grass can be

seen.

Hannigan is in the fourth year of

turning her yard and formerly gravel driveway into a garden. She

has created a garden filled with vegetables and flowers that

surrounds her home.

Like many gardeners, Hannigan likes to

show off her work and she likes to discuss growing tips and

techniques.

“It’s a passion of mine,” she said. “I

love to have people come over. People love to talk dirt.”

With that in mind, Hannigan decided

that what Whitefish needed was a garden tour. So she has created

just such an event with a good cause.

The 2011 Whitefish Garden Tour features

nine gardens on Saturday, July 23. The event is a fundraiser for

the Whitefish Community Garden and will help the garden raise money

for its water bill.

“It will be like a progressive garden

party,” Hannigan said.

Owners of the gardens will be on-hand

during the event to answer questions and talk about different

styles of gardening and plant choice. The tour includes

professionally landscaped gardens, private individually-designed

gardens and a local urban farm.

“It can be super overwhelming when you

first start,” Hannigan said. “Different people address gardening in

different ways.”

The garden tour begins at the Community

Garden. Participants can then travel to the different gardens

throughout the day.

In addition to Hannigan’s garden, those

on the tour include Elden Gardens Dahlias, the garden of artist

Karen McKendry Minton, Scott and Cari Elden’s garden, the garden of

David and Jen Elden, Parker Beeson’s garden, Good Medicine Lodge

and Purple Frog Gardens.

Each garden offers a different

design.

Elden Gardens Dahlias is a commercial

dahlia farm, which grows more than 1,200 plants of 270 dahlia

varieties for show, weddings, florists and direct sale.

McKendry Minton describes her garden as

a hard working kitchen garden — practical and planted with things

she loves to eat. Beeson’s garden is described as a shabby chic

do-it-yourself backyard garden with everything from asparagus to

zucchini.

Scott and Cari Elden’s garden is a

professionally landscaped residential garden that includes

odd-shaped small gardens all around the house. While, David and Jen

Elden’s garden is both compact and full of edible delights.

Good Medicine Lodge is a bed and

breakfast. It uses its gardens to grow an abundance of herbs used

daily in food preparation and as part of its living space.

Purple Frog Gardens is the family-run

farm of Mike Jopek and Pam Gerwe. They sell a wide variety of

fruits, vegetables and eggs to the local community and use many

innovative techniques to extend their growing season.

The Garden Tour is from 11 a.m. to 3

p.m. The tour begins at the Community Garden at 1150 Wisconsin Ave.

Maps for the tour $2 per individual and $5 for families. Maps grant

admission to all the gardens. The Purple Frog Gardens will only

give tours at noon and 2 p.m.

For more information on the 2011

Whitefish Garden Tour visit www.whitefishgardentour.com or contact

Hannigan at 253-6008.