Big, small, lavish and unique: annual garden tour offers variety

Lynn Williams had dug trenches in her backyard before, but nothing compared to what she’s come to call “mud day.”

In the pouring rain, she and neighbor Stacy Trollinger, dressed from head to toe in rain gear, were furiously digging in Trollinger’s yard, trying to finish a trench that would carry the water flooding Trollinger’s cement back patio around the corner of the house to where the driveway sits.

Drainage and runoff issues have been challenges Williams has dealt with quite frequently in the Greenleaf subdivision of Wichita’s northeast Tallgrass area where she and Trollinger live, partly because of a large berm in the commons area behind their homes.

This past weekend, Williams was again digging a trench, this time to provide adequate runoff from the stone patio she and her boyfriend were installing where a kid’s sandbox used to be. The area was already encircled by a stone border, a prevalent feature around William’s backyard.

There are so many stones that they inspired the phrase “Landscape that Rocks” in promotional material for her backyard, which is one of the six area gardens featured in this year’s three-day garden tour, which is sponsored annually by the Sedgwick County Extension master gardeners’ program.

The gardens on the tour can be visited from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 4. Tickets are $10, with children 12 and under admitted free with an adult. Tickets can be purchased three ways: in advance in person at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center at 21st and Ridge Road, online at sedgwick.k-state.edu/events, or at any of the gardens on the tour (cash or check only).

The garden tour is a great opportunity to not only admire the beauty and work put into some local gardens but to also become inspired and learn about gardening, said Matthew McKernan, the extension office’s horticulture agent.

“Each year we try to focus on showcasing premier local gardens that demonstrate a wide variety of gardening techniques. We try to include a mix of big gardens, small gardens, lavish gardens and gardens with unique styles and themes,” he said.

The gardening techniques include plant selection, water conservation, dealing with drainage issues and attracting pollinators.

Volunteers and homeowners have labeled many of the plants and often master gardeners are available at the gardens.

When Williams moved into her home at 2514 N. Greenleaf Ct. 22 years ago, there were only five trees and 10 evergreen bushes. After building berms and digging French drains, she started learning more about plants and putting her artistic background as a designer to work, creating more than 20 beds that feature a variety of trees, shrubs, flowers, plants and even repurposed items, like a 1950s hat stand and wooden ice cream maker bucket that have become bird houses and a lightning rod stuck in a pot to serve as a trellis.

One of the largest beds is right behind her back patio and it’s filled with both sun and shade plants, a new golden Leyland cypress, a pinyon pine and more. About 50 rare coastal coral rocks comprise part of the border around the bed. Williams has used combinations of river rocks, ironstone rocks, holey limestone boulders and even old, holey cement blocks that she paints to match other rocks in her borders and beds. She avoids sandstone; “it’s crap rock,” she said.

Inspired by the courtyards she saw during a visit to Savannah, Georgia, Williams came back and installed her version of a fenced French courtyard with a mixture of grass, stone and, of course, garden beds. It also serves as a fenced outdoor area for her dog.

As an artist and designer, Williams tries to create plantings and landscape designs that can be enjoyed from different angles. For example, in the space that separates her house from that of her east-side neighbor, she’s planted a clematis on the side of a tree facing a window in her neighbor’s home.

When Trollinger moved next door to Williams, at 2510 N. Greenleaf Ct., seven years ago, Williams shared her gardening skills to help convert Trollinger’s rather plain backyard into a showcase garden, or “Islands of Color,” as described on the garden tour information.

One of the biggest projects was building a huge berm that spans the back of her yard. She had 32 tons of soil delivered to create the berm. Then she and Williams started planting a variety of trees, shrubs and flowers.

“I wanted something beautiful out there,” Trollinger said.

She’s also created some beauty in the area that is east of her patio and around the corner of her home, where visitors will find a lime smoke tree, a seven-son flowering tree and a moonglow magnolia, all of which are smaller-sized trees, along with hydrangeas, hostas, caladiums and impatiens.

“She put in things I’d dreamed of,” said Williams of the trees in that area.

Drought and Kansas wind have been two gardening challenges, Williams said, so she’s planted native and drought-tolerant plants, including coneflower, and installed various evergreen trees and shrubs to help protect other plantings from the wind.

Along with Williams’ and Trollinger’s gardens at 2514 and 2510 N. Greenleaf Ct., respectively, four other gardens are featured on this year’s tour.

• 742 Surrey Lane, Maize, “Woodland Retreat.” While this garden started as a sunny spot 40 years ago, it’s now become an area of mature trees; curved paths of various materials, including flagstone and brick; mature beds filled with hydrangea, iris and Solomon’s seal; and pots filled with annuals providing depth to the borders. This garden, the only one on the tour owned by volunteers in the extension office’s master gardeners program, also has water features and a koi pond.

• 9423 W. Wyncroft Ct., “Garden of Water Views.” This home has a front garden with hedges, special angled pots and seating; a side sun-filled garden with large cannas and hydrangeas; and a backyard with water views and a sloped private water feature that was added in 2011.

• 9129 N. Seneca, Valley Center, “Creativity of Nature and Art.” To allow an easier way of recreating space, the homeowners have filled wagons and other mobile receptacles with plants so that can be easily moved from one spot to another The property, which features nine birch trees, is home to a variety of wildlife, including turkeys, woodpeckers, orioles, hawks, eagles, and even an armadillo.

• 4950 Wyndham Ct., Park City, “Backyard Garden Medley.” This quarter-acre property includes a variety of trees and plants such as serviceberry, prairie gold aspen, tiger eyes sumac, large hardy hibiscus, bald cypress, plum yews, globe blue spruce, prairie smoke flowers, and prairie burdock. Each garden area has an eclectic array of art pieces from meditating frogs to colorful, handmade birdhouses, as well as a “lucky Buddha beer” bottle tree.

McKernan said the extension office is always on the hunt for gardens that can be included in their annual tour. To make a recommendation, contact McKernan at (316) 660-0140 or mckernan@ksu.edu.

“As soon as this year’s garden tour is over, we will begin touring private gardens around the area in order to select our 2024 garden tour gardens for next year,” he said.

Annual Master Gardener Garden Tour

What: tour of six area gardens in Wichita and three other communities that benefits the Sedgwick County Extension Office master gardener program

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3; noon-4 p.m. Sunday, June 5

Where: 742 Surrey Lane, Maize; 9423 W. Wyncroft Ct.; 9129 N. Seneca, Valley Center; 4950 Wyndham Ct., Park City; 2510 and 2514 N. Greenleaf Ct.

Admission: $10 with children 12 and under admitted free with an adult; in advance in person at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center at 21st and Ridge Road, online at sedgwick.k-state.edu/events, or at any of the gardens on the tour (cash or check only).

More info: sedgwick.k-state.edu/events