Flowers are flaunting every color of the rainbow and their scents are drifting through six stunning gardens as the seventh annual Birmingham in the Garden tour approaches.
The self-paced tour, organized by the Birmingham First United Methodist Church, runs 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, July 21.
‘We like to include gardens where individual gardeners can get practical ideas for their own garden, but we also like to include at least one garden per tour that is over the top, allowing those on the tour to be entertained with something to aspire to attain,’ says Jay Shell, chairman of the church’s landscape committee and of its Zambia and Cuba missions. Proceeds from the tour will help youths participate in a mission trip to Cuba planned for December.
‘The overseas trips expose youth to something they don’t see in their daily lives and offers a different perspective on the world,’ Shell says. ‘When we expose youth to a mission trip, we create a missionary for life.’
Approximately 200 people are expected to tour the gardens – rain or shine – and, Shell says, the gardens tend to look their best in overcast or light rain conditions. He attended all of the church’s garden tours, and twice had the pleasure of having his own garden featured.
‘The owners of the gardens are very prideful of their gardens, and they want to show them off,’ he says.
Each garden and its history is unique. Together, they embrace a variety of aesthetics and features such as walls, pathways, columns, statutes, ponds and flowing rivers. The gardeners have worked hard to make them look their best, Shell says.
Two gardens on the roster are next door to each other on the Rouge River in Beverly Hills. In Northville, a former senior pastor of the church and his wife will show their new garden.
In Auburn Hills, the tour will include a nursery owner’s incredible country garden, complete with chickens. And an amazing garden in Auburn Hills has a lily collection that is not to be missed. The dazzling lilies, late bloomers, are the reason the 2018 tour is so late in the season.
This year’s show stopper is a spectacular garden in Birmingham with a wildlife sanctuary pond. Its magnificent water feature, a man-made pond, attracts all kinds of wildlife.
The host gardeners will be on hand to answer questions at some of the gardens. Prior to touring, each visitor must exchange a ticket for garden cards showing the six gardens on the tour, with information written by the hosts, including the address where each garden is located. Garden cards should be picked up at the church prior to 1 p.m. the day of the tour.
Birmingham in the Garden attracts a diverse group of people – congregation members, residents of Birmingham and surrounding communities, photographers, artists and those visiting Michigan.
A few years ago, Tony Bennett was performing a concert in the area and decided to attend the garden tour. The singer was so impressed with one garden he asked the owner if he could come back the next day with his easel and paint the garden (one of Bennett’s first career ambitions was to be a painter).
Tickets for this year’s tour are $10 in advance or $15 the day of the tour. They can be purchased at the church office or at fumcbirmingham.org/birmingham-in-the-garden.
For more information, contact the church office at 248-646-1200. Birmingham First United Methodist Church is at 1589 W. Maple Road (between Southfield and Cranbrook) in Birmingham.
The church’s landscape committee welcomes gardeners to join future tours. Email Jay at jay.shell@gmail.com to learn about showing your garden.