“Trendiness in the garden is not something I have much time for, but it is fascinating to observe how various enthusiasms ebb and flow through the world of gardening,” says Des Kennedy.
He should know — he’s an award-winning author of numerous books, a TV and radio personality and a public speaker, all focused on gardening, and he’s been cultivating his own garden with his partner Sandy for over 40 years.
The Kennedys’ glorious garden and fairy-tale house is featured on this year’s Denman Island Home & Garden Tour, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this June 15-16.
The 2013 Denman Island Home and Garden Tour will showcase 12 Denman homes and gardens, some right on trend, some charmingly old-fashioned, but all of them outstanding.
Tickets are $18 (kids free), and available at www.denmanconservancy.org, Ken Dor Garden Centre and Arrowsmith Garden in Qualicum, Cultivate Garden and Gift in Parksville, Long Lake Nursery in Nanaimo or by calling 250-335-2148. Cyclists are encouraged with a free draw — enter at the Community Hall. This event is a fundraiser for the Denman Conservancy Association.
The Kennedys were instrumental in founding this much-loved event, which has stayed the course while garden fashions have taken root, flourished and then withered...at least for a while.
“Among its other attractions, a long-running event like the Denman Home & Garden Tour offers a fine opportunity to observe these arcane comings and goings,” says Kennedy.
The first Denman Island Home & Garden Tour took place in 1991, catching the early wave of this boom. Over the next couple of decades, each Tour seemed to out-flower the last one, as gardeners went all out in pursuit of the greatest varieties of roses, the biggest peonies, rarest varietals, most magical water features, and most beguiling paths.
— Submitted by Denman Conservancy Association