Olbrich Home Garden Tour
July 9 |
July 10 |
10 am - 4 pm |
9 am - 3 pm |
Experience a world of garden wonders on Olbrich’s Home Garden Tour, featuring edible and ornamental gardens. Tour private home gardens in northeast Madison neighborhoods and collect ideas for your own garden on Friday, July 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, July 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Many of the gardens on this year’s tour creatively include edible plants. Some gardeners chose to plant a large vegetable garden, while others have simply chosen to add vegetables or herbs in containers. Also see creative patios, soothing water features, and bold, attention-grabbing plants; wander through intimate, shady backyards or stroll through sunny areas dotted with vegetables.
During the tour, enjoy a stop at Troy Community Gardens to see first-hand how gardening can be a community effort. Be inspired by creative solutions to gardening problems, beautiful landscapes, and interesting homeowners during Olbrich’s Home Garden Tour. Pastries and sandwiches will be available for purchase onsite from Manna Cafe during the tour.
Ticket information
| |
Olbrich Members |
General Public |
Pre-Tour Tickets |
$10 |
$12 |
| Tour-Day Tickets |
$14 |
$16 |
Tickets are currently available at the following locations:
Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Avenue, Madison
Felly's Flowers
205 E. Broadway, Monona
2701 University Avenue, Madison
607 N. Sherman Avenue, Madison
7858 Mineral Point Road, Madison
6353 Nesbitt Road, Madison
Jung Garden Centers
1313 Northport Drive, Madison
6192 Nesbitt Road, Madison
1123 N. Bristol Street, Sun Prairie
Klein's Floral & Greenhouses
3758 E. Washington Avenue, Madison
Garden Descriptions
Sheridan Drive
This craftsman style home, which operates as a bed and breakfast was designed by the homeowner. A handmade fountain was installed in the front yard near a 20-year-old Japanese maple, as well as a magnolia and pagoda dogwood. Shady beds are home to 14 types of ferns, along with heucheras and many hostas. The sunny backyard includes a sweeping border of daylilies, roses, phlox, monarda, and hydrangeas. Colorful perennials border a Victorian gazebo. This garden is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife habitat.
Community Garden
Troy Gardens is a unique project integrating people and nature in a sustainable way. The grassroots efforts of local gardeners resulted in the state-owned land being purchased by the Madison Area Community Land Trust. The 26-acre parcel includes community gardens, an organic farm, demonstration gardens, and restored prairie and woodland areas. The Community Gardens provide an opportunity for north-side residents to grow their own food and to meet and share ideas with other gardeners from diverse backgrounds.
Events at Troy Gardens - July 9 & 10 (PDF)
Troy Gardens Raffle (PDF)
Co-housing Community
The development is reminiscent of an old-fashioned neighborhood, with homes built around central lawn areas. Three homes will be highlighted on the tour.
Site #1 The homeowner is experimenting with sheet-mulching techniques. Tomatoes and peppers grow in the warm micro-climate in front of the house.
Site #2 This garden is extensively landscaped and features stone pathways through an herb garden, annuals, and native perennials including rattlesnake master, liatris, and cup plant. A rain barrel has been installed to conserve water, and a back-yard pond is planned to facilitate drainage.
Site #3 A pergola was built at this residence using found timbers complimenting the vegetable garden and the many native prairie plants. Compost was used extensively to amend the soil on the property.
Hanover Street
The heart of this garden is a collection of 166 different varieties of daylilies. A cedar arbor and trellises are just two of the many eye-catching garden ornaments that accent the beds. 'Coconut Lime', an unusual variety of the coneflower, and 14 other varieties of coneflowers flourish here. A sunny area is dedicated to growing a raspberry patch that provides abundant fruit in summer. A large hosta collection is planted under the shade of elm trees. Prickly pear cactii thrive and bloom in an area that receives only two hours of sun each day.
Troy Drive
The mosaic inlays that decorate the foundation walls, as well as the stepping stones off the back patio, were created by the homeowner. Perennial beds edged with recycled pavers are filled with coneflowers, bee balm, woodland phlox, swamp milkweed, coreopsis, helianthus, cup plant, and Joe Pye weed. Tomatoes, peppers, bush beans, strawberries, and herbs are grown in stone edged beds. A pear tree, raspberries, and mulberries further enhance this edible landscape. The abundant food produced in this small space, plus the creative use of recycled and repurposed materials, makes this home garden the perfect model of sustainability.
Morningstar Lane
A rock wall planted with blue star junipers and a collection of low-growing sedum surrounds the property. A trailing hydrangea spills over the low fence above the retaining wall and Peegee hydrangeas add late-season color. A pagoda dogwood and a viburnum add fall color and food for wildlife. Nearby is a small, productive herb garden, which includes perennial thyme. Across the driveway is a bed of spring-blooming wildflowers, as well as a white garden, including
hydrangeas, phlox, shooting stars, calla lily, anemones, and white bleeding heart. An adjacent shade garden boasts lady slipper orchids, toad lilies, thalictrum, cimicifuga, Japanese painted ferns, epimedium, and yellow corydalis.
Randy Lane
Spiderwort, Oriental peony-poppies, lamium, phlox, and hydrangea are heirloom plants given to the homeowner over 40 years ago. Recycled bricks from cobblestone streets, and a collection of rocks add personal touches to the landscape. Several varieties of clematis scramble up trelises, and hanging baskets of impatiens adorn the fence as well as a salvaged wrought-iron door. Shady beds in the backyard are dotted with bleeding hearts, lamium, heuchera, corydalis, pulmonaria, Japanese painted ferns, hellebores, and hostas in a style that the homeowner, a quilting enthusiast, refers to as a "patchwork garden." In a sunny corner of the yard is a unique metal and fiberglass trellising system crafted for growing tomatoes.
Olbrich Home Garden Tour Sponsors
Jung Garden Centers
K2 Graniteworks
Klein's Floral & Greenhouses
Landscape Designs, Inc. - Steve Lesch
Madison Area Master Gardeners Association, Inc.
ZDA
UPCOMING Events
Quilts in Bloom: Fall Quilt & Flower Show
Fall Bulk Leaf Mulch Sales
CRACKLE - Fire & Froth
Growing Gifts Shop Sale
Olbrich's Holiday Express: Flower & Model Train Show
