By Emma Loura/Manhattan Mercury
The Manhattan Area Garden Tour will return for a 35th year later this month.
Set for June 22 and put on by K-State Research and Extension Master Gardeners, the tour will feature five home gardens, two community gardens and the K-State gardens.
The theme of this year’s tour is “Nature Scapes.” Colleen Hampton, a K-State Research and Extension Master Gardener organizing the tour said she, like many other gardeners, loves to get out into nature to de-stress and to see the wildlife the plants attract. She said this tour gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.
“It’s something I thought about for four months at least,” Hampton said. “It dawned on me that everybody on the tour goes out to the garden to get out in nature, as stress relief.”
The Manhattan community gardens at Riley Lane and Collins Lane are celebrating 50 years, making them the oldest in the state of Kansas.
New this year is an educational talk at the K-State Gardens, particularly the rose, butterfly and cottage gardens. A Master Gardener will spend three minutes telling visitors about the history of the rose garden, what to plant in a cottage or butterfly garden or questions about roses.
Visitors can see the sundial and some rosebushes from the original rose garden, which was planted in the 1800s and relocated to its current location in 1989.
“It’s amazing; these roses are still going,” Hampton said.
The home gardens include Kitra Cooper’s eclectic fairy garden at 302 S. Manhattan Ave.; Tim Lindemuth’s English colonial garden and Monet-inspired beds at 500 Denison Ave.; Barbara and Ron Meitler’s garden with a winding flower bed along the ledge of a creek at 1736 Westbank Way; Susan and Kim Nelson’s 3001 Pinewood Circle garden, which has peonies, roses, a globe willow tree and a small pond; and Doris Proudfoot’s garden featuring native perennials and colorful annuals at 1739 Fairchild Ave.
Each gardener beautified a different kind of space. One of Hampton’s favorite homeowner gardens is that of Lindemuth, who is participating in the garden tour for a fourth time.
“He is really established,” Hampton said. “I think he’s been gardening since the ’70s there. It’s really tidy and shady. I can’t believe the things he grows there in that shade. He has a green thumb.”
In keeping with the theme of getting out into nature, the Meitlers’ garden by Little Kitten Creek has a trail visitors can walk down, while the Nelsons’ garden has something flowering all the time.
“No matter whether you have a garden with lots of sun or lots of shade, you’ll get good ideas of what to grow and where,” Hampton said.
The tour will last from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jun. 22.
Organizers recommend a $10 donation from anyone who wishes to join the tour. Proceeds go to support the K-State gardens.
