2023 GARDEN TOUR
What is the Garden Tour?:
Each July, selected homeowners in the Northfield area open their gardens to the public. This garden tour is organized, advertised and hosted by the Garden Club. This is a ticketed event, the proceeds from which go to support the grants program and other charitable activities of the Northfield Garden Club. Tickets are $10 and available at each site.
2023 TOUR July 8 and 9th 11am to 4pm
The Gardens & Artist Details
1. Polly Hendee – 1512 Huron Court
Perennials from generations of family gardeners were the genesis of the sunny Spring Creek garden at a new home in fall 2019. Minnesota natives have been sown by hand, grown from seed, or purchased locally during each subsequent season. A raised-bed garden of herbs and vegetables sits at the top of a slope planted to native turf-type buffalo grass. Local Kasota stone terraces along the sides of the house transition to backyard native plants and grasses blending with the walking trail landscape. Plantings around the house and under quaking aspen trees in the backyard are a mix of flowers, grasses, and bushes to attract and sustain pollinators and birds.
Artists: Jill and Ken Hilton
J&K Legacy Jewelry jklegacy.jewelry@yahoo.com K:(218) 536-0445 Jill: (218) 536-1408
Ken and Jill design beautiful garden themed items made from broken antique dishes and antique silverware. Antique dishes with flowers or garden scenes are skillfully cut and encased in silver to become lovely and unique pendants, earrings, keychains, or tree ornaments. Antique silverware is also crafted into wind chimes, bookmarks, or small sculptures. We also make wool soap; each completely hand felted with flowers. We travel the world collecting unique dishes for our art. Favorite inspirations come from Monet’s Garden in France, spring walks over the Burren in Ireland, and around Inverness Scotland.
2. Tom & Linda Gagnon – 1508 Huron Court
When Linda and Tom Gagnon moved to Northfield in November, 2019, they left behind a 150-year-old house on an acre and one-half they had spent 40 years landscaping. Their new home is a contemporary design on a quarter acre that originally included only two recently planted boulevard trees. With the help of Heidi Brosseau and Knecht’s Landscaping, they started with a blank canvas in the summer, 2020. Included in their plan were some highlights of the former home: Magnolia, Red Bud, Ginkgo and Larch trees. They added gardens on the north and south that eliminated mowing on the sloped walk-out lot. The west lawn adjoins the city Spring Creek Trail where they’ve tried to concentrate on pollinators and indigenous plant varieties. Now only in the fourth year, the landscape is a work in progress. But, they say, that’s what gardening is all about.
Artist: Sharon Draeger
Landscape, Nature & Wildlife Photography
sharon@sharondraeger.com (612) 207-2247
Nature feeds the soul - it can lift your spirits when you’re down and give peace when all around is chaotic. My photography features a variety of work - beautiful hand painted b/w photographs that are reminiscent from another time - traditional landscapes from my travels and experiences in all 50 states and intimate portraits of animals and nature.
My images are available as matted prints (ready to frame), stretched canvas, acrylic, metal and now glass.
3. Laura & Steve Medwetz – 1013 Prospect Drive
How Does My Garden Grow? Once, a patch in the front yard was cleared and a garden was planted, which grew into more gardens. Then, gardens started popping up along the side of the house. Wouldn't you know, now there are more gardens in the backyard! Two backyard gardens blur property lines so neighbors can share their love of gardening. Come take a journey across shade gardens, sun plantings, and woodland. This is a never-ending story of a gardener's love of digging, planting, and watching the flowers grow.
Artist: Barbara M. Zaveruha
Prairie Creek Pottery Zaveruha.com barbara@zaveruha.com (507) 664-9002
My aim is to make useful pots, in lovely colors, referencing the prairie landscape. Then, from the materials I take from the earth—clay and ground-up rocks—I create the conditions in which they can express their potential for beauty. I make high-fired stoneware for its strength and durability, and glaze with a palette of colors that do not depend on toxic compounds.
4. Will Schroeer – 206 Winona Street
Winona Ave Boulevard planting: Neighbors in the 200 and 300 Blocks of Winona St. have planted natives in their boulevards. Many used grant funds from the Minnesota “Lawns to Legumes” program to cover pay for their plants. Because they use natives, the resulting gardens are more resilient, need less water, and attract and feed butterflies and other pollinators. Linking boulevard gardens also helps support smaller pollinators who don’t fly as far!
Neighbor Will Schroeer will be available to answer questions about the gardens and the grant program.
Artist: Robert Shaffer Cedar Lake Wood Works
cedarlakewoodworking@gmail.com (952) 261-9600
I turn wood from trees that I have saved from all over Minnesota. I enjoy making large bowls, lidded boxes, candle holders, natural edge bowls, and platters from a variety of wood species.
I am a retired arborist with a lifelong love for and fascination with trees. Turning a rough piece of wood and discovering the beauty inside of it is the most satisfying part of what I do.
5. Amanda & Matt Eastvold – 410 1st Street W
A Daughter’s Garden: This garden is a tribute to and a gift from my dad, a Master Gardener of over 50 years! My love for gardening and the majority of the plants in my garden have come from him. This garden exists because of his generosity.
The garden has three distinct zones. First, the water-wise, pollinator-friendly boulevard full of various grasses, coneflowers, and other native plants that require little maintenance once established. A second zone is the shady front and side garden packed with shade loving perennials that make an interesting tapestry of color and texture. The final zone is a small patch of sunny ground full of annual cut flowers for sharing arrangements with friends.
Artist: Judy Saye-Willis Sunset Studios, Fiber Art
saye-willis.com judy@saye-willis.com (507) 838-5133
I am a visual artist with a passion for fabric and color. When I was a kid the knees of my pants were stained green, there was dirt under my fingernails and my grandmother’s garden was filled with purple irises. Years later a French man showed me how to make dyes for fabric and inks and watercolors for paper from plants, trees, and rocks. I also learned I could grow Japanese indigo. This will be the fifth year I have grown Japanese indigo. One year I planted over 2000 plants! Regional artists have now established the Rice County Indigo Growers Collective.
6. Cathy Collison – 1118 Spruce Court
Cathy envisioned round metal beds, which she finds far more visually interesting and much longer lasting than the standard wooden rectangles of most raised-bed gardens. The 3-foot-tall round beds she settled on “give the garden some gravitas: they give your eyes a place to rest. We’re not supposed to have grass here wasting all our fertilizer and water trying to look like Scotland. We should live with the ecosystem we (have). I want to keep refining what I’m doing, keep experimenting. It won’t be as interesting when I’ve got it all figured out.”
Artist: Cathy Collison Blown Glass Ornaments
cathy55057@gmail.com cathyornaments@gmail.com
(507) 301-9559
Cathy works with soda lime glass and likes to use intense colors with designs and patterns that are imperfect and maybe a little off-kilter. “Holding a glass orb in their hands and wanting to turn it around and around, taking in the colors, details, and textures, I want a person to experience a little bit of bright and happy.”
Artist: Heather Lawrenz Lawrenz Jewelry heather@lawrenzjewelry.com (952) 994-1325
I create unique and limited-edition jewelry from my home studio in Northfield, MN. I allow the materials, whether they are glass, stone, recycled, or found to guide my designs. I find gratification in combining unexpected elements and strive to create meaningful, beautiful jewelry to be worn every day. My current collections feature unusual gemstones, recycled glass, and colorful metal from decorative tins.