Garden Walk to celebrate the summer season

After a winter with freezing temperatures and the spring passing by in a night, Bloomington residents have waited long to feel the warmth of summer and enjoy the outdoors.

The Bloomington Garden Club will be featuring the best of the outdoors during the 2014 Summer Garden Walk this weekend.

As the longest-running garden tour in Bloomington, the Garden Walk will feature six gardens in the Monroe County area.

This year, the event celebrates its 25th anniversary. The Silver Anniversary Extravaganza will feature arrangements with silver-colored flower displays located in the main building of Hilltop Garden and Natural Center.

The Bloomington Garden Club has existed for more than 75 years.  

“The garden owners are often friends and neighbors, and we actually approach them to join the Summer Garden Walk by cold callings,” Bloomington Garden Club co-chair Harriet Kulis said. “This sort of adventurous nature lights an amazing sense of community and sharing among us.”

The club started with six women from various professional backgrounds who were gardening lovers with a focus on philanthropy and education. Their mission focuses on encouraging the love of gardening through collaborative learning and planting activities, aiding environmental conservation through educational public events and promoting the unity of the Bloomington community by distributing philanthropic grants.

The featured gardens include five private gardens, the Shade Garden and the Children’s Garden at Hilltop Garden and Nature Center.

To allow for an adventure, the Garden Club does not like to reveal too much information about the gardens prior to the walk, according to Kulis.

Guests will be provided with the garden owners’ names, their locations and a map when purchasing their tickets. Guests then go on to a self-guided tour of the gardens allowing for the added element of surprise.

There will be club members from the Bloomington Garden club available at each garden to make introductions and welcome visitors.

Tickets are $10, which includes all venues, and may be purchased at local vendors such as Bloomingfoods, Bloomington Hardware, Bloomington Valley Nursery or the Monroe County History Center.

Guests can also purchase tickets with credit cards at the Monroe County History Center on the days of the walk.

The tour will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and from 12 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Keeping with the philanthropic tradition, the Bloomington Garden Club will donate the proceeds to local non-profit community organizations.

“We often forget about the nature and true enjoyments in life as more people become obsessed with electronic devices with the technological development,” Kulis said. “And I think the opportunity to feel grounded in natural beauties is what essentially draws people to the Garden Walk.”