Arts & Leisure
Old York Garden Club gets ready for "16 Sundays in the Garden"
By Jennifer L. Saunders
Peter Gluckler, left, an avid gardener and an agent with ERA Masiello Group in York, is the primary sponsor for the “16 Sundays in the Garden” brochure; Eleanor Todd, who maintains an extensive rock garden, will open her garden as the first stop on the tour on Sunday, May 27, and Carol Coles, president of Old York Garden Club, will host her garden at 13 Rumsey Road on Sunday, June 3. Above the three is Cheryl Farley with the tour sign, which will be prominent at each garden every week.
Courtesy photo
YORK - The gardeners who have been at work creating the first of the featured gardens in a debut summer-long event for the Old York Garden Club event are ready to go.
Join Eleanor Todd, Carol Coles and Cheryl Farley of the Old York Garden Club to kick off this unique garden tour, "16 Sundays in the Garden," inspired by the version popular throughout England. Their three gardens will open to the public on sequential Sundays, beginning May 27.
The tours will be on Sunday afternoons from noon to 4 p.m. through Sept. 9. The fee is $3 per garden, payable at the door of the individual garden on the day of the tour, and all proceeds benefit the club's various civic development projects, including the care and planting of all the traffic islands throughout York, York Beach, York Harbor and Cape Neddick.
Each site will be marked with a sign on the day it is open, beginning with Todd's garden at 105 River Road in Cape Neddick on May 27. In an announcement of the upcoming event, the Old York Garden Club described a "magnificent rock garden" as the central focus of Todd's landscape, which features early spring blooms with a mix of annuals and perennials.
Then, on June 3, visit Coles' garden at 13 Rumsey Road, off Route 91 in York, where a border of spring bulbs and perennials will lead you to the front porch of her gambrel-style farmhouse.
"A large perennial garden sits on a slope in the front yard, leading your eye to a meadow," the description of this garden reads. "The vegetable garden and various other perennial gardens surround the house, including a shade garden featuring hosta and astilbe on the north side. An attempt at a white garden proves an annual challenge due to serious flooding each spring. Rhododendrons and other spring-flowering shrubs and trees complete the landscape."
On June 10, visit Farley's garden in York Village, located at 53 Lindsay Road. Illustrating how to pack a lot of garden onto a little lot, this pocket garden features fruit trees, shrubs, a rock garden and perennial and herb beds. According to the club's description of this garden site, the property has been built up on a stone foundation and stone steps, which are under construction, lead to a pond that serves as a "natural water garden" and perennial garden beds feature old-fashioned varieties including climbing roses, clematis, foxglove, peonies and hollyhocks.
The garden tour will continue for 13 more weeks after these upcoming events, featuring a different club member's private garden for viewing each Sunday. For dates, locations and directions pick up a "16 Sundays in the Garden" brochure at the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce, The Old York Historical Society Administration Office or the Museum Shop, or from many of the shops, hotels and bed-and-breakfasts throughout York.
