SHAVERTOWN — The lovely home of Kate Hayes and Fred Ney is ready for visitors. There isn’t a speck of dust on the furniture, the floors are clean and the gardens are immaculate.
But Hayes is a bit nervous.
“Everything is lovely now, but I’m worried that things won’t be in bloom for the tour,” she said.
Hayes and five other residents in the Shavertown/Trucksville area will welcome guests on June 27 to their gardens for the seventh annual Back Mountain Garden Tour. The day promises fun for those who like to stop and smell the roses. And the peonies. And the honeysuckle.
The event is bi-annual, just like hollyhocks that bloom every two years. It is hosted by the Back Mountain Bloomers, who will wear their signature green shirts as they guide visitors through gardens, answer questions and otherwise ensure that tour visitors have an enjoyable and safe time during the event.
Over the years, the tour has featured small cottage gardens, theme gardens, landscaping at large estates and tiny gardens that are possible for any ambitious homeowner to put together. Not all the gardens belong to Bloomers’ members. A featured garden just has to be something wonderful that the homeowner is proud to share with fellow plant enthusiasts.
“And any and all money raised goes to the Anthracite Scenic Trails Association for maintenance on the trails and the natural areas,” said Joanne Bittner, who is in charge of this year’s tour. That funding comes from the tour tickets at $25 per person, as well as from sales on the tour and sponsors who help to fund the day.
Over the past six tours, the Bloomers have raised a total of more than $50,000 for ASTA and hope once again this year to be able to support the cause in a big way.
At each home, there will also be one of the event sponsors on hand to add to the fun. Those sponsors are also contributors to the goodie bags the first 500 participants to check in for the tour will receive.
At Hayes’ home, Wild Birds Unlimited will point out the feathered flyers who visit the many bird feeders in the garden. Blue Chip Farms Animal Rescue will be at another site, another will host Perennial Point. The Penn State Master Gardeners will be on hand as well as the NEPA Bonsai Society, to mention a few. And visitors who stand still too long might find themselves as part of a painting by members of the Wyoming Valley Art League.
The Back Mountain Bloomers began as a group of gardening fiends – and friends – who came together in 1988 to share their passion for gardening. The original group had fewer than a dozen members.
“And it blossomed from there,” said Sharon Ellsworth. Comments about growing, flowering and gardening come naturally to this group.
Today, the organization has grown to a membership of nearly 80 and the club is open to anyone who has a commitment to gardening and to the club’s projects that better the community.
“That doesn’t mean just Back Mountain residents, either,” Bittner said. “We have members from as far away as Wapwallopen and the Tunkhannock area. And we have several members from the Wyoming Valley.”
The group has monthly meetings where its members share information through programs and projects. There was one session where everyone learned how to make hypertufa, a strange concrete-based substance that can be turned into planters and containers of all shapes and sizes. There was another about hay bale gardening. There was a presentation on hydroponic gardening and still others about composting and keeping blooms fresh.
Group members also hold an annual picnic and host a well-known gardener as a speaker on the years when the tour is on hiatus. They make visits to gardens, they enjoy speakers and programs, they hold planting sessions, they share gardening tips with each other. One well-known project is their work at the Shakespeare Garden at Misericordia University.
And they all love to get their hands dirty.
The Hayes-Ney garden is just one example. When the couple bought their house, there was no garden to speak of. Now, it’s the kind of place where a weed thinks twice about moving in. The front yard hosts a Kousa dogwood and a climbing clematis as well as lovely flowers in a variety of containers. On the side of the house, there are dark pink peonies featured among the other plants. And the back yard holds six varieties of hydrangea. The multi-level deck overlooks a spring-fed Posten Pond.
And it’s all about the fun of working with growing things.
“The very sorry thing about flowers is that they just don’t bloom long enough,” Bittner said. “In the spring, the daffies come out, and then they die back. But that’s when the allium comes forward. And then there’s the lilac bush and the flowering cherry. And it goes that way all through the season.”
She continued, “The good thing, the joy comes from seeing all of these things take their turns at blooming and bringing their color out all through the growing season. It’s what we all look forward to when that snow is all around us.”
