By Ginger Dawson
NKyTribune Contributor
I love to look at gardens! I love my own garden; I look at it several times a day. I also love to look at other people’s gardens. My favorite part of vacations to historic destinations (I’m a history geek, too), is viewing the gardens on hand.
I have a terrific yearning for the grounds of Monticello. Colonial Williamsburg’s gardens inspire me to try new techniques and plant new seed. Any garden that I can tramp through and inspect thoroughly is my favorite thing on earth at that moment. It is my porn.
Imagine my thrill and excitement to find out that there will be an epic garden tour right in my own back yard!
On June 20 and 21 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days), the Old Seminary Square and Westside neighborhoods in Covington (the Intrepid Urban Farmer’s turf), are having a garden tour that promises to be a buster! TWENTY-SEVEN different private and public gardens will be available to tour and inspect! I cannot wait.
One of the highlights of this tour, for any vegetable gardener, has to be the Riddle-Yates Community Garden. It is Covington’s oldest one, being in existence for some thirty years. This grande dame of gardens has the distinction of being the example all community gardens should follow. Other neighborhoods have their gardens, but none have the history of continuity and longevity that Riddle-Yates has. It is operated under the banner of Covington’s Center for Great Neighborhoods, but it has been stewarded for many years by Ms. Faye Massey, a longtime Westside stalwart. Hats off to you, Ms. Massey!
The Orchard Park garden, under the auspices of “Grow the Cov”, an Urban Farming Activist Organization, will be featuring their fledging efforts and showing off their impressive flock of chickens. Who doesn’t love chickens?
There will be a chance to see examples of innovative gardening techniques, including Mark and Holly Young’s screenhouse. Yes, SCREEN house. No bugs!
Of course, there will also be many beautiful examples of skillfully designed landscaping that enhance the tremendous historic housing stock that these two neighborhoods enjoy. Inedible flowers, hedges, etc… Pretty, but not as pretty to me as a good tomato plant. I know, I know, I am a marginal character with this opinion.
There will also be an art show and a raffle for a couple of singularly large “show plants”: a Boston Fern and a Dragon Begonia, each six feet(!) tall.
A silent auction for gift baskets donated by several local businesses will also be going on.
For more information about tickets, parking, and anything else you may have questions about, check this link: http://www.covingtongardentour.com
I hope to see you there. It’s going to be quite the affair!
