July event - Tour 3 MGV Gardens - Thursday, July 12

For this month’s program, two master gardeners are opening their home gardens to us in Janesville, plus we’ll visit the pollinator demonstration garden at Hedberg Public Library.

MGV Pollinator Garden, Hedberg Public Library.

We’ll start at Art and Linda Hilker’s home.

“Ours is a cottage garden 25 years in the making," Art explained.  "Veggies are limited to pole beans and garlic. Fruit is limited to everbearing raspberries. The balance is annuals, perennials and shrubs. We have strived to select plants with variation in color, texture and form to result in bloom periods and beauty throughout the growing season. If we like it we plant it. Particular emphasis has been on the therapeutic aspects of our garden.”

Our next stop will be at the home of Cindy Boehning.

“My garden is a half-acre, mostly perennials, some annuals & a large vegetable garden," she said.  "Every year I convert more lawn into garden beds. I have some unusual garden art such as the centerpiece of the backyard is a barn cupola surrounded by Magellan Mix Zinnias. I have a large bed of State Fair & Benary Giant Zinnias, which I grow especially in memory of my Mother. Zinnias were one of her favorite flowers so every weekend I take a bouquet of Zinnias to her grave. We have had the added stress of losing quite a few trees in a storm in mid-June. Still dealing with that so it's certainly interesting & very stressful."

We’ll finish the tour at the Pollinator Garden at  Hedberg Public Library.  It’s a new garden, planted late last summer, so some of the perennials are still establishing. Even so, there has been color since early spring. We’ll talk about choices, challenges and plans for additional development and use.

This is a daytime tour which will begin at 9:45 am.  We'll meet in the parking lot in front of Office 
Depot/Penzeys/Schnucks. It’s a short ride from there to Hilkers’. (Sorry for the extra step, but we don’t want to publish the addresses here.)

If anyone wants to, we could go to lunch at Citrus afterwards.

This is an approved continuing education program.  MGVs and Interns will receive 1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) per hour of participation.  

If you have any questions about this program please contact Mary Kay Thompson at 608-322-4800 or by email at mastergardenermary@gmail.com.  We're looking forward to seeing you on the 12th!