Brookside, Sycamore Square and Wilshire Park gardens in full view
GARDEN TOUR CO-CHAIRS Cathy Roberts (center) and Julie Stromberg, with Julie’s new rain barrel and GWNC Sustainability Committee member Bill Funderburk (left).
The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council (GWNC) held its second Drought-Tolerant Garden Tour June 2, and after the success of the first tour, committee co-chairs Cathy Roberts and Julie Stromberg turned their sights to neighborhoods not featured in the 2016 tour: Brookside, Sycamore Square and Wilshire Park.
“It was truly a lovely way to spend half the day, touring all the gardens with a good friend, and making new ones along the way! It inspired me to do some work in my own yard and garden,” said Tammy Rosato, a La Brea-Hancock resident.
The self-guided and free tour showcased eight homes and included a Fremont Place garden featured in the 2018 Garden Conservancy “Los Angeles Open Day” tour and a Hancock Park garden recently featured in the “Los Angeles Times.” “Although our focus with this year’s tour was on the Greater Wilshire’s southernmost neighborhoods, we couldn’t resist including this gorgeous Hancock Park garden on our tour, which proved to be one of the favorite gardens for many of our patrons and one of the highlights of the tour,” explained Stromberg, GWNC Sustainability Chair.
Garden Tour patrons Peggy Giffin and Bob Wyman explored the gardens in a truly sustainable manner — by foot. Except for the Hancock Park garden, they were able to explore all the Tour’s gardens by foot, which proved to be 5.4 miles, in 2.5 hours. “It was fun to see the variety of ways in which our neighbors and their landscape designers have created sustainable gardens,” explains Giffin, a Hancock Park resident. “The timing of the tour was perfect for us because we are in the design phase for our back yard. We will definitely be incorporating some of what we saw on the tour into our design,” added Giffin.
LUSH GROUNDS at a Sycamore Square garden on the tour.
The tour featured gardens designed by Cheryl Lerner and Judy Horton, among other notable landscape designers, many of whom were present on the tour to answer questions and offer advice. Roberts and Stromberg selected the gardens to highlight each neighborhood on the tour, with gardens of different styles of drought-tolerant landscaping, and to appeal to a variety of patrons.
As explained by Sycamore Square resident Conrad Starr, “As an apartment dweller, I garden ‘vicariously’ through my neighbors, and I know that one of the joys of creating a garden is sharing it with others. The GWNC Drought Tolerant Garden Tour was a delightful combination of sustainability, artistry, and community! I look forward to seeing where our creative minds and ecological hearts will take us in the future.”
Other highlights from the tour included a garden books exhibit at the Memorial Branch Library, which served as the base for the tour, a Friends of Memorial Library book sale, and a rain barrel distribution by Rain Barrels, Intl.
Based on the positive response to the event, the GWNC will host its next Drought-Tolerant Garden Tour in 2019 and will host a rain barrel workshop with Rain Barrels, Intl. on Sat., Oct. 27, from 10 a.m. to noon at Memorial Branch Library.
“The GWNC Drought-Tolerant Garden Tour is not only about promoting sustainable and resilient landscaping practices, but a community engagement event to showcase and engage our wonderful Greater Wilshire community,” said Stromberg.
Category: Real Estate
