Get inspired with spring garden tours in Fresno, Madera
Gardeners are opening their yards for tours to help “jumpstart” the spring planting season.
The tours support education provided by the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Fresno and Madera counties.
“It’s just thrilling to see what people do with their space, and the creativity they come up with is just beautiful,” says Rita Evans, chairwoman of the Fresno tour. “It’s a wonderful day.”
It kind of jumpstarts people to get in their garden and work on it.
Nadine King
Four home gardens will be open in Madera from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 16, and six will be open in Fresno from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23. Plants will be for sale during the tours at master gardeners’ demonstration gardens: Three Sisters Demonstration Garden in Madera and Garden of the Sun in Fresno.
Gardeners will be at each of the sites to answer questions about plants, landscaping and irrigation. They say now is a great time to plant before Valley temperatures warm significantly by May.
Nadine King, chairwoman of the Madera tour, says the annual event is great “inspiration and education.”
King loves gardening.
“For me, it’s calming. It gets me away from the house. I love being outside and just enjoying the nature and the beauty of it. It keeps me going, and it’s great exercise.”
Three of the homes in the Fresno tour are in central Fresno, and three are in north Fresno. They range from drought-tolerant landscapes to vegetable plots and lush green cottage gardens. Gardeners have different themes for their homes, including French country, adobe mission and Japanese. The Japanese garden is named “Peace and Harmony.”
If they get a few ideas they can implement in their garden, then we’ve done our job.
Nadine King
The Madera tour includes two drought-tolerant gardens, a cottage garden with a white picket fence and “lots of shade,” and a large garden that includes a small golf course.
King hopes the tours are helpful.
“If they get a few ideas they can implement in their garden, then we’ve done our job.”
Carmen George: 559-441-6386, @CarmenGeorge
Attend a garden tour
The Spring Garden Tour hosted by the Master Gardeners of Fresno County is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23. Tickets are $30 in advance and can be purchased online at ucanr.edu/sites/mgfresno/ or at a number of locations. A full list is available online and includes the Master Gardeners’ Garden of the Sun demonstration garden, 1750 N. Winery Ave., Fresno. Tickets on the day of the tour will be $35 and can be purchased at the Garden of the Sun and each of the private gardens. There also will be a plant sale at the Garden of the Sun.
The Glorious Garden Tour X hosted by the Master Gardeners of Madera County is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 16. Tickets are $20 in advance and can be purchased online at ucanr.edu/gloriousgardentour or at Floral Fantasy, Peters Brothers Nursery, the UC Cooperative Extension office in Madera, Hurst Hardware in Madera Ranchos and Riverside Nursery in Fresno. Tickets on the day of the tour will be $25 and can be purchased at the Master Gardeners’ Three Sisters Demonstration Garden, located on the Madera Community College Center campus, 30277 Avenue 12, Madera, where people can also purchase plants and garden art.
This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Get inspired with spring garden tours in Fresno, Madera."