The annual June garden tour was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, but from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 23, the tour is back.

As with previous years, the garden tour will feature five area gardens. The name and location of the gardens are kept secret until the day of the tour. To find a complete list of gardens, purchase a ticket at Hy-Vee Foods. The tickets will be available after June 19 and cost $10 each.

Each of the five gardens on the tour was chosen because they reflect a unique style.

Master Gardener Roxann Jelinek said that is the point of the tour, to show off the different and unique styles possible with each garden.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Gnomes lounge among hillside rock landscaping in shaded rest area at one of this year’s Master Gardener Tour stops.

“People will go on the tour and see something unique and say, ‘Oh that’s a good idea, I could do that,'” Jelinek said.

The first garden on the tour features hillside rock landscaping and a shaded rest area with a gazebo overlooking a stone waterfall. Flowers include lamium, hostas, lilies, clematis and shrubbery.

The second garden is home to daylilies, hostas and lilacs and several repurposed treasures. Kasota stone in the yard was salvaged from the former Hermann Heights retaining wall. The garden also features a gazebo and BBQ bar near a compass fire pit.

The third garden features eye-catching planters, a birdbath and wagon wheels as part of the decor. Hibiscus, geraniums and other flowers are in bloom. Natural mulch keeps the weeds away from a vegetable garden.

The fourth garden includes ponies, sun drops, blue false indigo and other perennials in a well-manicured yard. Rabbit statues dot the garden. Rock from the homeowners’ farm edge the side garden with plants from the same location.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt A rabbit statue sits among the greenery of one of the locations of the Master Gardener Tour celebrating the glory of gardening and nature’s superior box of crayons.

The fifth garden is one of the first gardens on the Master Garden tour located in a shared residential location. The garden is managed by multiple volunteers with some assistance from residents. One of the volunteers has been maintaining the space for 25 years. The garden is designed with extensive sidewalks a large gazebo bird baths, swings, benches and a small waterfall with a pond.

Each year sees some new gardening trends. Recently there are more gardeners planting shrubs and hanging planters. Two years of pandemics brought families back into their yards, meaning more open space for activities; greater rotation of flowers to change scenery and more vegetables.

A map identifying the locations of all five gardens is provided with the purchase of a ticket. Those on the garden tour are free to visit the five gardens in any order and tour each site at their own pace.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt This stop on this year’s Master Gardener Tour is a unique selection because it is at a shared residential location offering an example of how “nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”