By Buffy Calvert
If you have a library and a garden, you have all you need! Cicero
That’s the motto of the Andes Public Library Garden Tour held on June 28th. And it’s true. One of this year’s Tour-ists, Susan Stetson, wrote us to say, “…thank you to the people responsible for the garden tour and to the gardeners themselves who were so gracious in opening their gardens to the public.”
Gracious indeed! And beauty beyond belief. In any order, take the tour: Step into Lynn Witkowski’s “rooms” each a gem of imaginative planting and exuberant color. Open the gate and climb the path of Gloria Carlson’s lush pockets of flowers laced with artful stonework. Drive through the cathedral-like arched trees of Doig Hollow to Carol and Frank Messineo’s hide-away at Tunis Lake to find exquisite sitting areas and a spectacularly framed mountain view.
Back in Andes, be charmed by Mike and Joanne Warner’s delightful village garden, rose-covered picket fence and all. Drive up, up, up to Bountiful: Carolyn and Pat Capasso’s acres, where they grow cherries, apricots, nuts, figs, limes, huge tracts of vegetables and herbs, and raise goats, hens, and rabbits on Lower Dingle Hill. Around the corner, on Ridge Road, Donnie and Vera Liddle will show you their dazzling gardens behind the house and the donkeys in the pasture. Wonder what “permaculture” looks like? Daphne Boss Ayalon, an enthusiastic expert, demonstrates the new technique at work.
Swing up Bussey Hollow to Charles and Cynthia Bonnes’s must-see estate: formal gardens, linked ponds, lovely view. Two gardens on Crescent Hill beckon: Linda and Peter Lederman’s tranquil Japanese garden and beautifully landscaped pond and an extraordinary display by a pro, the Gazette’s own Garden Therapist Mel and Peggy Bellar.
Susan Stetson says, “I had a thoroughly enjoyable day. Special thanks to Lynn who served refreshing lemonade and Tay [Home] cookies. A nice touch!”
The happy tour-ists, gracious gardeners, and the library all look forward to next year! ~