Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island hosted over 50 ticket holders for its Second Annual Home Garden Tour on March 31.
The tour included four Marco Island home gardens with the small group tours conducted personally by the homeowners who developed the gardens, and also included a gardening or floral demonstration at each of the four homes. The four home gardeners: Susan LaGrotta, Cathy Williford, Jen Ferrier and Maria Lamb, are shown in the photo at the reception following the tour.
Cathy Williford showed her beautiful home garden that included colorful flowering plants artfully arranged in beds edged by large dark rocks. She also described her pollinator garden enclosed in a low -walled courtyard. Williford is pictured showing her front garden bed.
Jen Ferrier led tour participants around her front and back gardens that showcased bromeliads, tillandsia and orchids on the trees. Her garden also contained large sculptural century plants, or Agave americana, plus beautiful Furcraea foetida, also called false agave. Ferrier delighted the tour participants with a welcome sign composed of plants enclosed in a picture frame.
Susan LaGrotta explained that her use of all native plants, plus some lovely orchids fastened to her gumbo limbo tree, yields a beautiful, colorful and varied garden that is pollinator friendly, bird friendly and requires no fertilizer and very little added watering. The native plants included flowering vines covering her fences. LaGrotta is pictured showing beach daisies near her front driveway.
Maria Lamb spoke to the garden tour participants about fastening bromeliads and orchids to trees, her collection of beautiful amaryllis, the natural look of her huge live oak tree surrounded by pollinator plants, and about the gopher tortoises populating her large hillside lot. The guests were surprised to find a baby gopher tortoise in the yard! The photo shows the small tortoise next to Maria’s colorful athletic shoe.
Guests enjoyed the personal tours by the homeowners and the small size of the tour groups. Their comments after the tour included praise for the beautiful gardens, appreciation for the educational demonstrations, and thanks for the Club’s efforts. They said the club’s advance preparation and organization made the tour experience pleasant for them from the registration process, through the tours themselves, to the final reception with door prizes.
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Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island is an IRC Section 501(c)3 organization and is a member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. Membership is open to persons interested in horticulture, floral design and environmental matters residing 5 months or more in Collier County. The Club meets the second Monday of each month, October through April at Rose Hall at Marco Island library. Persons interested in membership should contact the Garden Club through its website, calusa.org. For information on Club activities, visit the Club’s Facebook page Calusa Garden Club.
