Center of attention
Gardens, tour to help benefit Crosby center
DEERWOOD - Handcrafted rock sculptures, a waterfall bird pond and plenty of colorful flowers will be on display July 12 in the third annual Hallett Community Center Foundation Garden Tour.
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The self-guided tour will run from noon to 5 p.m. and will feature 12 gardens in the Deerwood, Crosby, Aitkin and Brainerd area. The tour, which will run rain or shine, will benefit the Hallett Community Center Foundation in Crosby.
A flowering plant hangs above a bird bath in a shade hosta garden in Andrea and Brian Gaffney's back yard in Deerwood. Brainerd Dispatch/ Jennifer Stockinger » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Karen Swanhorst and Sue Bowles, organizers of the garden tour, said the tour is a fundraiser for making improvements to the Hallett Community Center. In the past, funds from the tour have gone toward installing a handicapped accessible door, a sauna, tiles in the restrooms and equipment in the workout room.
Tickets may be purchased at the Jesse Hallett Library, Hallett Community Center and the Crosby-Ironton Courier, all in Crosby; and at Guidepoint Pharmacy in Brainerd. On the day of the tour, tickets may be purchased at the community center beginning at 11 a.m. Tickets are $10 and are tax deductible. Descriptions of the gardens and a map come with the ticket.
Boulders and perennial bushes grace one of Priscilla and Brian Blom's gardens in Deerwood. The Blom gardens will be on the third annual Hallett Community Center Foundation Garden Tour scheduled July 12. Brainerd Dispatch/ Jennifer Stockinger » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Gardens on the tour:
Deb Seamans and Laura Schwartzwald, Aitkin. Their gardens complement each other - Schwartzwald's garden features a Japanese theme intertwined with a shady woodland setting, and Seamans' sunny gardens combine a country-style garden with an English-cottage feel, giving the impression of leaving one room and entering another as you wander through. Schwartzwald's garden also includes a large collection of ferns, hostas and other shade plants. The gardens also include a variety of water-related features, such as a pond, a fountain and a "crying" rock.
Joan and Lloyd Hallada's shade garden in Crosby has a small waterfall bird pond surrounded by ferns, hostas and shade flowers. The setting makes for a peaceful walkway toward the back of the home, where you cross a deck to the back yard with a weeping crab tree and hosta garden.
One of many irises in Priscilla and Brian Blom's yard in Deerwood. The Blom gardens will be on the third annual Hallett Community Center Foundation Garden Tour scheduled July 12. Brainerd Dispatch/ Jennifer Stockinger » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Gale and Greg Leach, Crosby, will display their corner retreat shade garden, a new raised-bed vegetable garden and formal landscaping around the house that includes colorful second-story window boxes.
Norma Spurgin's "This and That Garden" in Crosby offers perennials, flowering bushes, fruit plants, vegetables, annuals and rocks. Several of the plants are transplants from friends' gardens, while others are whimsical choices from area greenhouses. They're all mixed together to create an outdoor living area.
Andrea and Brian Gaffney's and Priscilla and Brian Blom's gardens in Deerwood have a bit of everything, including sun and shade plants, potted annuals, fruit trees, a raspberry patch and a vegetable garden mostly bordered by the rocks from the properties. An old logging road lined with more than 80 hostas join the properties.
A rock garden that includes several perennials, such as hostas and day lilies, is located in Andrea and Brian Gaffney's back yard near a path lined in hostas. The garden will be on the third annual Hallett Community Center Foundation Garden Tour scheduled July 12. Brainerd Dispatch/ Jennifer Stockinger » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Walt and Kathy Lager's and Kathy Robinson's gardens in Deerwood - a joint effort with more than 30 island gardens with many types of blooming perennials, hostas and annuals. A new raised vegetable garden includes a variety of vegetables and herb plants contained in nine 4-by-8-by-6 cedar enclosures with an in-ground watering system.
Ak Sar Ben Gardens owned by Richard and RoxAnne Bouley of Deerwood includes a garden started in 1932 by the Vogt brothers. They created many unique rock-work sculptures by hand and five water features using a variety of rocks from throughout the United States. The Bouleys restored Ak Sar Ben to its original park-like setting that includes hundreds of flowers. This garden is on the Minnesota Historical Society Web site.
Sandy Museus, who lives on Highway 18 across from This Old Farm in rural Brainerd, starts most of her plants from seed and has a beautiful perennial garden that displays flowers and plants in and around collectible antiques. Museus has always had a love of flowers and gardening and she recently established a county market - Country Roots - to share her gardening passion with others.
John and Barb Laughlin's gardens in Riverton include a lovely shade garden, along with miscellaneous gardens.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.