Date: Fri 20-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Garden-tour-Hubbard-Muskus

Full Text:

A Garden Tour That Will Go Behind The Scenes

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

The Town and Country Garden Club of Newtown traditionally presents a large

arts and crafts fair at Edmond Town Hall each fall as its annual major

fundraiser. The garden-oriented club is one of two in Newtown. This year, Town

and County Club members decided they wanted to try something different.

After last December's successful Holiday House Tour event by Newtown Youth

Services (NYS), an annual Newtown occurrence, the wheels started turning in

some garden club members' heads: Why not present a similar tour in the summer,

when people could walk outdoors?

After some consideration, the club decided to present a summer garden tour,

one that would open some of Newtown's "secret gardens" to the public, most for

the first time ever. Entitled "Behind the Scenes of Upper Main Street," the

first annual event will be held this Sunday. On June 22, six backyard gardens

will be open to the public from 11 am to 2 pm. Tickets are $10 each, and will

be available for purchase on Sunday only.

On view will be the gardens at #42 Main Street, the Bermingham residence; #49,

the Fialas; #51, Mimi Hubbard; #53, the Poirers; #56, Collette Williams; and

#72, the Jamisons.

What makes each garden fun to discover is that none can be seen from the road,

or even by passers-by who may be walking along Main Street's sidewalks. All of

the well-maintained gardens have been created by the homeowners participating

on the tour, and each is behind the house of the property on which it rests.

"This is our first endeavor with a walking tour, and we hope, of course, that

it goes well," said Marianne Muskus, the new president of Town and Country.

"Mimi Hubbard, our horticulture chairman, came up with the wonderful idea and

we hope the community will come out and participate.

"We wanted to give the community the opportunity to view and appreciate the

wonderful gardens that are hidden on Main Street."

Each charming garden is on private property, which discourages them from being

seen by the general public. But when invited to any of these homes, a pathway

that brings one around to the side or the back of each residence unveils

wonderful, enchanting views of small gardens in varying styles.

"These gardens are all works in progress," Mimi Hubbard, a club member and

show chairperson, said last week. Friday afternoon, she was looking over her

own backyard creation, as well as looking at the gardens of her neighbors,

both of whom are included on Sunday's event.

A horticulturist by profession, Ms Hubbard says her own garden gets taken care

of last as a consequence of taking care of clients' gardens by day.

However, she has been able to offer a lot of invaluable help to the five other

homeowners on the tour, ranging from hands-on digging with other gardeners to

suggestions the other green thumbs can choose to use, ignore or adapt to their

liking. At the same time, each garden setting remains as unique as its

creator.

"These are not estate gardens," she continued. "These are our hobbies, what we

do with some of our spare time. These gardens represent what you can do with

fairly small plots of land."

The name of the tour came about because each garden is hidden ( Behind The

Scenes ) and each of the homes rests above Edmond Town Hall, located at 45

Main Street ( Upper Main Street ). Newtown's town hall will serve as the

tour's headquarters/starting point on Sunday.

Next year, if this inaugural gardens tour goes well, the club hopes to

flip-flop its setting and use homes and gardens on lower Main Street.

Ms Hubbard admits the tour is loosely based on the idea of the Holiday House

Tour. Yet while the December event, a fundraiser for Newtown Youth Services,

is a tour where visitors admire the inside of some of Newtown's best-known

homes, the Town and Country tour is going to put the accent on what Newtowners

are doing with the outside of their homes.

The six homes on the tour are very much within walking distance of each other.

Programs with descriptions of each garden and maps to each house will be

provided with each ticket purchase on Sunday.

"Everything concerning the gardens tour is outdoors," Ms Hubbard said. "The

tour itself probably shouldn't take more than an hour to cover, but everyone

will be welcome to linger as long as they like."

The final tickets will be sold at 2 pm, but the gardens will remain open until

the last visitors make their way around the tour.

Like the club's annual fall fair, all Town and Country Garden Club members are

volunteering their time in the gardens tour in one form or another. Some

members have been working in pre-tour publicity, while others will be working

at the tour itself, either doing ticket sales, manning the refreshment tables

to be set up at a few of the homes, or working as greeters at the gardens.

Another way members will be participating in the gardens tour will be at the

educational booths at Edmond Town Hall. There will also be potted roses for

sale to the public.

Town and Country is a member of both the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut

and the National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc. Its general objectives

are to promote interest in horticulture, to increase knowledge of the artistic

use of plant material, to further the conservation of natural resources, and

to get involved in civic projects. Past projects have included ongoing

plantings in the three traffic islands near the center of Newtown, and

decorating the lobby of Cyrenius H. Booth Library each holiday season.

Past arts and crafts shows by Town and Country allowed crafters and artisans

to participate only after meeting very specific standards. Now the garden club

members are following similar guidelines in presenting something both

entertaining and enjoyable to horticulture enthusiasts of all ages and

backgrounds.

While the NYS December house tour event has been hampered in the past by snow

storms or other such winter weather, gardeners this weekend will not be on the

lookout for any snow storms. Instead, there is always a chance of rain that

could dampen the walking event.

The tour will be held rain or shine, says Mimi Hubbard. After all, gardeners

will toil in their gardens at all hours, and not always in the best of

conditions.

"Just bring your umbrellas," Ms Hubbard suggests if Sunday dawns rainy or

overcast. "Because we'll be here!"

Tickets may be purchased the day of the event at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main

Street, where the tour will originate. The tour will be held rain or shine.

For additional information, call Mimi Hubbard at 426-1318.