The Evergreen Garden Club tour returns on July 20

The Evergreen Garden Club tour is back, with five new flower and vegetable gardens available to tour on July 20. The day also includes a plant sale, food trucks, local artists and musicians, and an online silent auction. The gardens on the self-guided tour open at 10 a.m. and close at 3 p.m.

The event is the garden club’s only fundraiser, and proceeds benefit the maintenance of nine public gardens in the Evergreen area.

The tour is not only an opportunity to admire the beautiful vegetation, but it also inspires new and experienced gardeners to start their own projects.

Evergreen sits at an elevation of 7,180 feet, making gardening a unique but rewarding challenge, says Louise Heern, the club’s president-elect.

According to a press release about the upcoming event, the tour gardens demonstrate the splendor of nature despite the region’s short growing season, dry climate, inhospitable soils, erratic winds and voracious wildlife.

““The Garden Tour is a unique opportunity to chat with people who have recovered from the disappointment of seeds that never sprouted, blooms that disappeared overnight amid a trail of deer and moose hoof prints, or vegetables that brought joy to a family of rabbits,” it says. “The gardens of the Evergreen Garden Tour have withstood the challenges of gardening at high altitude, and you can, too.”

Heern, who moved to Evergreen from a Chicago suburb, experienced these challenges firsthand, along with the added frustration of wildlife eating the fruits of her labor.

“When I came from Illinois, I was planting things I had in my garden and nothing was working,” she said. “I took the Master Gardener course at Colorado State University to help me overcome those challenges. Most people join the club to figure out what to plant, and it’s our mission to help them do that.”

The Garden Club tour is self-guided and participants can spend as much time as they like at each of the five stops. At each garden, a docent is available to answer questions, as well as an artist and a musician.

Tickets are $25 and free for children under 12. They can be purchased online at the Evergreen Garden Club 2024 tour or at check-in on July 20 at 9 a.m. at EFR, 1802 Bergen Parkway.

Public gardens that benefit from the tour and are maintained by the club are located in the Evergreen Metro Water District, the Hiwan Homestead Museum, the Bergen Park Roundabout, the Evergreen Fire/Rescue Training Center on Bergen Parkway, the Evergreen Post Office, the Evergreen Library and the Evergreen Metro District.

The Evergreen Garden Club also donates and conducts a food drive each year, with proceeds benefiting Evergreen Christian Outreach.