By Wayne Towner
Special to the Times
The 2012 Marietta Garden Tour will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Marietta and Williamstown.
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The Boersma garden at 624 Seventh St. in Marietta will be featured in the 2012 Marietta Garden Tour from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Marietta and Williamstown.
The event is sponsored by the First Unitarian Universalist Church, which will host a plant sale and refreshments at the church at Third and Putnam streets in downtown Marietta.
Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 on the day of the event at any location on the tour. Advance tickets are available at Twisted Sisters, Greenleaf Landscapes, Williamstown Pharmacy and Thomson's Landscaping.
Five gardens will be open from 3 to 6 p.m., while the churchyard sale and refreshments will be from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.
The gardens on the tour are: Jim and Kathy Boersma, 624 Seventh St., Marietta; Kittie and John Clark, 419 Central Ave., Williamstown; Doug and Judy Grize, 300 Bellevue St., Marietta; The Castle, 418 Fourth St., Marietta; and Harvest of Hope Community Garden behind Food 4 Less at 110 South Seventh St. in Marietta.
Proceeds from the tour will be used for the upkeep of the historic 156-year-old church, which is on the National Historic Register. Tours of the building will be available.
For more information, call the church at 373-1238 or contact Caroline Putnam at 373-4510 or putnamr@suddenlink.net.
The Boersma property on Seventh Street features gardens surrounding the couple's two connected houses. One garden features a raised concrete bench enhanced by carved squirrels on a brick platform bordered by Windsor blocks. Other sections include a shade-giving maple tree, flowers, a sculpture garden, waterfall and lily pond and fruit trees.
The Clark property on Williamstown's Central Avenue emphasizes native shrubs and flowers. More than 50 varieties of native plants, many native to the Mid-Ohio Valley, are planted throughout the garden. Through a wooden gate visitors will be able to view a G-gauge western logging railroad circa 1880. The Williamstown Depot, passenger cars, fire hall, control tower and other accessories were built by John Clark.
The Grize home is located on Bellevue Street, overlooking downtown Marietta. There is a southern garden, along with alternating beds of hosta and Stella de Oro lilies. Peonies provide a backdrop for the Grizes' specialty - roses. There is also a hedge of boxwood and three ancient magnolias.
The Castle on Fourth Street features Williamsburg-style gardens around the 1850s Gothic Revival-style home. Plants in the garden's beds include laurel, rhododendron, boxwood, bleeding heart, Roseanne Geranium, lamb's ear, daylilies, miniature tea roses, hydrangeas, bee balm, yarrow, cone flowers, delphinium, iris, astilbe, Virginia spiderwort, cannas, yucca and many others.
The Harvest of Hope Community Garden on South Seventh Street features an area of raised beds of varying heights, designed for handicapped gardeners and those in treatment for cancer and other debilitating diseases. New this year are Square Foot Gardens, with successive plantings that will provide one person one meal a day during garden season. There are also many gardens planted by individuals, but a new trend is gardens by multi-generational families.
