Participants announced for Saturday’s Willow Garden Tour

Frontiersman staff

WILLOW — For the first time — possibly ever — the Willow Garden Club has announced the gardens included in its 26th annual Willow Garden Tour.

Club president Marsha Van Abel said she’s not sure why the gardens were kept secret in the past, but she broke with tradition this year.

The four gardens on this year’s tour belong to Kristin and Jeff Bartenstein, Valerie Oulette, Susan Whiton and Vern Halter, and Cindy and Ron Forsyth.

• The Bartensteins’ lakeside garden has been developed over many years. They have created the ultimate home vegetable garden. All types of veggies are grown within “moose proof” fences, and a state-of-the-art greenhouse features peppers, basil, cucumbers and tomatoes. This is an outstanding example of how to grow vegetables within contained areas of a garden.

• Oulette’s charming lakeside garden is designed to enhance wildlife habitat, specifically birds. Oulette builds birdhouses that serve the needs of the many species of birds that summer in Willow. Walking toward the lake you encounter many nooks and crannies where you may sit and enjoy all that goes on in the forested areas of the yard. This garden features many unique and one-of-a-kind treasures that Valerie has created, as well as a beautiful perennial garden and greenhouse.

• Whiton and Halter combined business, pleasure and beauty when they decided to create a lovely bed and breakfast/garden area to complement a bustling dog kennel campus. Dream a Dream hosts many visitors every year who wish to savor a truly Alaska experience.

• Forsyth’s garden was thoughtfully planned over the past 10 years. They have incorporated three styles of gardens into their master plan: A cottage garden on the west side, a more formal garden on the south side facing the lake and a woodland garden on the east side of their property. Merrylouise Garden, named after Cindy’s grandmother and her sister, features dahlias, peonies, astilboides, ligularia, angelica, butterburr and other large-leafed unusual perennials.

To join the Willow Garden Tour, meet at 9:30 a.m., Saturday at the Willow Community Center, Mile 69.8 of the Parks Highway. The tour is from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and maps will be distributed of the gardens to visit. People are asked to pack a lunch to eat at Dorothea Taylor and George Murphy’s lakeside garden.

For more information, contact Van Abel at 495-2080.