The Sustainable Garden Tour is back for 2023 and we have a great schedule of gardens for you to visit! The FREE tours will be held on the third Sunday afternoon of the month starting in May until August (May 21, June 18, July 16, and August 20). All tours will last from 2:00-5:00 pm and visitors can drop in anytime during the tour timeframe. The tours are self-guided, but the hosts are present to answer questions. Light refreshments will be served.
Tour locations for August 20, 2:00-5:00 pm
Katz garden, 1704 Shelor Lane, Blacksburg. Zoe Katz has created a diverse food and flower garden in a small rental house backyard using the “easy-care bag garden” methods described in the book, Starter Vegetable Gardens, by local author Barbara Pleasant. Using organic seed in organic soil, Katz is able to grow a lot of her own food, much of it actually grown in the bags of soil. The garden also serves as inspiration for her painting and is an inviting space for birds and pollinators, with companion plantings helping to control pests naturally.
Swinfen garden, 777 Craigs Mountain Rd, Christiansburg. Take a little drive in the country to enjoy this beautiful locaion! Set on 12 acres, with fruit and nut trees, a vegetable garden, pond and compost bins, the property owners encourage natives and have been eradicating invasives. They have installed solar panels and an impressive rainwater collection and pumping system to water their gardens.
When considering gardens to feature, we sought gardens that would showcase practices from the list of sustainable gardening and landscaping practices we compiled during our 21 Actions for 2021 Campaign. You can find that list of practices here:
Highlights from the 2023 Sustainable Garden Tour
See more images from the May 2023 Corl/Burger and Marsille gardens here
See more images from the June 2023 Todd and Davis gardens, Sunset Boulevard pollinator garden and Cedar Chest Farm here
See more images from the July 2023 Monti/McLellan and Keciorius/Villareaga gardens here
Highlights from the 2022 Sustainable Garden Tour
See more pictures from the May Pandapas Pollinator Garden tour here
See more pictures from the June Glaser and Paulson gardens here
See more pictures from the July Lambert and Hale Community Garden tour here
Leighton Reid shows a tour attendee the new native plant propagation station built using a Sustainable Blacksburg grant.
See more pictures from the August Shadowlake Village garden tour here
See more pictures from the September Griffiths garden tour here