A suburban garden surrounded
by water features, a miniature train garden, a granite hillside
garden and a garden with meandering giant African tortoises
will be highlights of the 61st annual Riverside Flower Show
& Garden Tour "Planet With Flowers" April
19 and 20 in Riverside.
The event allows amateur and weekend home gardeners to bring
in their plants and flowers to be judged, and for garden
lovers to get sneak peeks into some of the most beautiful
Riverside area front and backyards.
Once again, the flower show will be held at the Elks Lodge,
6166 Brockton Ave.
Water is the theme of Denny and Carole Thompson's suburban
yard, which is surrounded by one water feature after another.
The garden tour will meander past sets of rock fountains,
a large natural swimming pool, a koi pond with a waterfall
and other fountains.
"We just enjoy the sound and look of water," said
Carole Thompson, who with her husband was raised in Northern
California near a river. When the couple moved to the house
about 30 years ago, it displayed three sago palms and a
tree.
Three years ago, the Thompsons added the koi pond and last
summer had their pool, installed in 1979, remade into a
natural-look pond with rocks lining the deck and the pool.
"I like the natural, wild look," she said. She
said friends in Zimbabwe shipped metalwork and carved stones,
which add an unusual, exotic touch to the garden.
The garden of Roger and Faith Clarkson hosts miniature trains
that run on 3,200 feet of track through the backyard. The
garden was on the tour previously and was so popular, it
was added to this year's tour. A shuttle train has been
elevated and hot springs added.
Roger Clarkson now operates 17 trains at the same time through
scenic towns and tunnels, over bridges and across waterfalls.
Jake and Terri Boersma's backyard boasts a 20-foot-high
granite hill, which Terri Boersma calls "a challenge."
The couple hauled 20 cubic foot of dirt up the hill with
wheelbarrows so they could plant in the decomposed granite.
Planters and the hill display impatiens, azaleas, asparagus
fern, begonias, pansies, snapdragon, agapanthus, society
garlic and roses. Halfway up the hill an area is leveled
off for a patio with gazebo and storage shed. As yet, Terri
Boersma said there hasn't been much time to enjoy the resting
area.
"I don't like heights to begin with!" she laughed.
Richard and Diane Popko's yard features "lots of flowers,
shrubs and trees, along with desert tortoises and huge African
tortoises almost to my waist," Dorothy Brown, flower
show secretary, said.
The residential gardens of Marc and Lucille Chacon, featuring
a Victorian garden, and Bob and Darlene Paetz are also on
the tour.
The Riverside Flower Show & Garden Tour is hosted by
a volunteer group of individuals passionate about promoting
the gardening culture.
The flower show encourages preschool through middle school-aged
children to enter their own gardening projects from dish
gardens and bouquets to table settings, vegetables, artistic
crafts and more. The flower show features displays, commercial
booths, door prizes, four workshops and a silent auction.
The Flower Show & Garden Tour will be held from 1 to
6 p.m. April 19 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 20. Entries
may be taken to the Elks Lodge from 3 to 7 p.m. April 18
and 7 to 9 a.m. April 19. All entries must be ready for
judging by 9 a.m. April 19.
Tickets are $8 pre-sale, $10 at the door. Children 15 and
younger are admitted free with a paying adult. Tickets are
available in Riverside at Parkview Nursery, 3841 Jackson
St.; Parkview Nursery, 4377 Chicago Ave.; Dragon Marsh,
3643 University Ave.; Tiggy-Winkles, 3675 Main St.; Louise's
Nursery, 16310 Porter Ave.; Gardener's Cottage, 5225 Canyon
Crest Towne Center No. 30.
Tickets are available in Moreno Valley at Steve's Valley
Nursery, 23125 Sunnymead Blvd.; in the Jurupa area at Gene
Brown Real Estate, 8990 Limonite Ave.; and in Bloomington
at Sunshine Gardens Nursery, 11295 Tamarind Ave.
The ticket price includes a map of the gardens on display.
A gasoline-saving route is mapped out.
|
Select a Florist
