Tenth annual Glorious Garden Festival June 16-17 in Bloomington-Normal

BLOOMINGTON - "It's A Garden Party!," the tenth anniversary of the Glorious Garden Festival featuring a tour of eleven private gardens, will be held Friday and Saturday, June 16 and 17 at several locations throughout Bloomington-Normal.  Hosted each year on the third weekend in June, the Festival is a fundraising event that benefits Chestnut Health Systems and the David Davis Mansion Foundation.

 

The Community Garden Walk will be held Friday, June 16 from 1 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, June 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The walk begins on the grounds of the historic David Davis Mansion State Historic Site, 1000 E. Monroe, Bloomington, and walkers must pick up maps and programs at the mansion.  The event will be held rain or shine.

 

The garden walk offers self-guided tours through eleven private gardens in the community.  This year's gardens include sunny, shade, perennial and water gardens that range from small, backyard gardens to expansive gardens filled with ornaments and annuals.

 

Landscape nurseries sponsoring the event—Casey's Garden Shop, Chizmar Landscaping, Green View Companies, Grieder Sod & Landscaping, Sunburst Nursery/Penn Landscaping, and Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses and Garden Center—will have experts on hand to provide information about the more unusual plants.  Other corporate sponsors include Chizmar Landscaping, Original Smith Printing, Osborn & DeLong, State Farm Insurance Companies, Westminster Village, and Zimmerman & Armstrong Investment Advisors. 

 

Tickets for the garden walk are $12 in advance, $14 the weekend of event, and $7 for children ages 1 to 17.  Tickets may be purchased in advance at a variety of vendors throughout Bloomington-Normal and at the David Davis Mansion the weekend of the event.  Easy ticket and map pick-up is available, with drive-through service and free parking on the Mansion grounds.  For more information about this year's ticket sale locations, contact the Davis Mansion at (309) 828-1084. 

 

 "This is the Glorious Garden Festival's tenth anniversary, and we have lots of exciting, new surprises in store, because this is such a significant year for the Festival," said Laura Alferink, executive director of the David Davis Mansion Foundation.  "During the past 10 years more than 9,000 visitors have toured over 100 of Bloomington-Normal's loveliest private gardens, and the event has netted nearly $200,000 for the two non-profit organizations sponsoring the event.  Moreover, we have brought back a few of the most celebrated gardens that visitors have really enjoyed seeing over the past ten years—gardens that have grown and changed dramatically over the decade.  This year's event is a kind of ornamental garden retrospective, which will inspire our garden walkers with new ideas about the creative ways they can continue transforming their own gardens over time."  

 

"We will also host a fabulous Garden Party on the David Davis Mansion lawn, where there will be fashionable Victorian ladies in summer lawn dresses playing croquet and other Victorian-era sports, while visitors will for the first time be able to take tea upon the mansion's verandahs and enjoy a Victorian-era concert and fashion show," said Davis Mansion Site Manager Marcia Young.  "Complimentary tea, hors d'oeuvres and desserts will be served under a tent on the David Davis Mansion lawn, courtesy of Lancaster's Restaurant, the Clover Lawn Museum Shop, The Great Harvest Bread Company, and Janet's Cakes."

 

There will also be tours of "Sarah's Garden" on the Davis Mansion lawn conducted by members of the McLean County Master Gardeners program, who will help visitors learn how to create a heritage or Victorian garden in their own back yards using heirloom plants from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and other famous American gardens.  The University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners in McLean County is assisting mansion staff with the restoration of Sarah's Garden and its members have provided much of the work needed to get Sarah's Garden ready for this event.

 

"So many people want to grow vegetables in their own back yards, vegetables that they can use for cooking and preserving, that we have added a vegetable garden for visitors' special viewing this year," said Karen Atherton, Chestnut Health Systems' director of special events.  "No matter whether they are vegetable or ornamental flower gardens, however, each of these gardens is a tribute to the therapeutic aspects of gardening—attributes that link Chestnut and the Davis Mansion together for this wonderful fundraising event."

Event proceeds will help fund the restoration of the historic Sarah Davis garden, a long-term project that involves continuing research, the development of school programs, and the reintroduction of difficult-to-find heirloom plants and seeds.  Chestnut Health Systems will use its proceeds to aid client needs, such as childcare for women attending therapy groups, or funding emergency medications for clients who cannot afford them.

 

 "The Glorious Garden Festival is more than just a fundraiser, however" said Alferink.  "It is a fun, educational experience for everyone.  "You'll have a chance to discover new plants for Midwestern gardens and talk to the experts from local nurseries who can tell you how to find, plant and care for everything from the traditional to the exotic.  The Garden Walk is a great place to ‘steal' other people's good ideas, become more knowledgeable and be entertained, all at the same time!"

 

For more information about Glorious Garden Festival sponsors and the event itself, call (309) 828-1084, or visit http://gloriousgardens.tripod.com. or  www.davismansion.org.

 

The David Davis Mansion State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (www.Illinois-History.gov), was built in 1872 for Supreme Court Justice David Davis and his wife, Sarah.  It is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for free public tours.