By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Break out the hats and sundresses to get ready for the annual festival of gardening beauty: the 25th Annual Garden Walk is just around the corner.
A hallmark event of the Friendly Garden Club, the walk will feature eight gardens on the west side of Traverse City — most in town, some just outside — on Thursday, July 19. Selected for the walk a year ago, when club members could view the full profusion of color and style in the corresponding season as the annual walk, the chosen gardens and their gardeners have had a year to prepare for 1,500-1,800 visitors.
Over decades of living there, George Myers of Traverse City has manicured his large backyard into multiple gardens as well as a greenhouse. Multiple decks, walkways and sitting areas plus a pond and waterfall are just some of the highlights of his beautiful landscaping.
A do-it-himself kind of guy, Myers is increasingly busy as the days count down to the walk. In addition to trimming, mowing, raking, watering, weeding and deadheading, he is also battling a variety of pests.
"I've had a lot of competition here,” he said of his problems with deer, moles, slugs and snails. "But the rewards are worth it.”
"I've got so many things to do yet, I hope I get it shaped up so it looks better than it does now,” added Myers, despite his near immaculate surroundings. "Gardening is sure rewarding, I'm always amazed to see what happened to the seeds and cuttings you put into the soil, it evolves into a lovely vegetable or flower.”
The Friendly Garden Club returns the proceeds of their annual Garden Walk to the community in the form of service projects or grants to organizations pursuing gardening-related projects.
"We do the logo garden [at the Open Space] and the planting at the Senior Center and also give little grants every year to different organizations, like the Children's Garden and Habitat for Humanity,” noted Sue Soderberg, vice chair of this year's event and next year's chair.
The walk will also feature a tour of the Dr. James Decker Munson Arboretum at the old Traverse City State Hospital; refreshments will be served at the Building 50 site. An arborist will give tours of the grounds and maps will be available for self-guided tours.
The arboretum features an astonishing variety of trees planted at the direction of Munson, who collected trees from his many trips. Members of the Friendly Garden Club have been documenting the trees and labeling them since 2000, with labels featuring both a tree's common and scientific names. The club is also numbering the trees to correspond to a map mounted just outside the entrance of Building 50. Each tree has been GPS located as well for additional documentation.
"The heritage is something else and most of the trees are more than 100 years old,” said Eunice Pines, chair of the club's conservation committee until this year. "Dr. Munson on his travels brought trees back and planted them.”
The Friendly Garden Club 25th Annual Garden Walk is scheduled for Thursday, July 19, from noon to 8 p.m. The event will be held rain or shine. Tickets are available at the Visitors Center, situated at the corner of Grandview Parkway and Union Street, area garden centers and sponsors or from Friendly Garden Club members. Tickets are $6 in advance at $8 the day of the walk. Children 16 and younger free.