Tickets on sale for return of Port Garden Walk on Sept. 9

The Port Washington Garden Club’s garden walk, which has been on hiatus since 2018, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Six gardens in the City of Port will be on the walk, all within 2-1/2 miles of each other. They will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The gardens include:

• One with numerous themes, including a woods, prairie, vegetable, a working garden and a mystery garden that features dahlias grown from seeds rather than tubers. The gardens feature “memory plants” that have been passed down in the family, including a Turks cap lily from the 1880s, hostas from the family farm and a now deceased pagoda dogwood that was a gift.

• A garden designed, laid out, graded and planted  by the owner, who has a horticulture/landscaping degrees. She also found rocks for the gardens, which provide color from April through November. Her favorite plant is a quick fire hydrangea tree that blooms white in July, then burns light and medium pink before turning burgundy in fall.

• A garden that came with the gardeners when they  moved to Port from Milwaukee. The plants include many gifts and “liberated” travel souvenirs, along with others they purchased, while the hardscaping includes reused items such as rocks, pavers and concrete “treasures” from the city yard interspersed with art pieces.

• This garden is colorful with many perennials, often providing food for the area wildlife. Height is a feature, with a number of clematis on trellises. Of note is also a gas plant, aka Dictamnus albus, that was transplanted from a friend’s yard and often doesn’t survive being moved. Other favorites are hibiscus and ligularia.

• This garden started as a porch container garden during the pandemic but has expanded significantly to include a vegetable garden, pallet compost bins, raised beds made from cardboard boxes, a pollinator garden and wood chip walkways.

• This garden has been developed over the last 10 years, with the owners moving into their house at the height of the emerald ash borer invasion. The couple designed, planted and taught themselves the tricks of the trade, then became obsessed with dahlias, which get squeezed into the garden wherever possible.

People can start and end the tour at any of the gardens, and they are encouraged to start the tour throughout the day so the gardens aren’t overwhelmed with visitors.

Locations and maps will be provided a day before the event.

Tickets to the garden walk are $8 in advance and $10 the day of the event at the garden sites.

For information and tickets, visit portgardenclub.org.