Lincoln garden tour Saturday showcases different styles | Garden & Landscape

“It’s just been evolving,” Gebhard said. “I started out small with a single landscaping rock before I really put more work into it.”

His garden will be featured in this year’s annual garden tour, organized by the Garden Club of Lincoln. The tour, which features nine gardens throughout Lincoln and the surrounding area, will be Saturday from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

Each garden features a different style of landscaping, such as oriental or xeriscape, where very little lawn is planted.

Some gardens in this year’s tour have carefully placed elements of rock, water and gravel, creating a path for visitors to follow.

“By creating a path, the idea is to invite people to enter your garden and be surprised by what they might find,” said Teri Ourada, who organized the garden tour.

Garden Club of Lincoln members will be at each garden to answer questions and take donations. The application for gardens to be featured in next year’s tour is open year-round.

“The tour is so much fun because people from all over the community come and take ideas to use in their own gardens,” Ourada said.

The nine stops on this year’s tour are:

*1308 N. 38th St. — Kate Borchman and Chuck Hassebrook’s garden features a patio surrounded by perennials and shrubs, including columbine, iris and milkweed.

*1320 N. 38th St. — Ray Gebhard’s front-yard garden opens up to a scenic rock waterfall. A Japanese maple also borders the front porch with perennials.

*3850 Orchard St. — Dan and Beth Alberts’ garden features an interesting collection of eclectic yard art filled with surprise hideaways and creatures. The xeriscape style highlights an informal planting design.

*1116 N. 38th St. — Marge and Thomas Knight’s garden features a mix of native shrubs and perennial beds, which create a serene garden with pollinator and predator-friendly plants.

*3809 Apple St. — Judy and Kevin Welsch’s garden greets visitors with paved paths, bobo hydrangeas and a weeping redbud. Their backyard is balanced by two small gardens, with one wrapping around the hot tub, a fire pit and a “glow in the dark” patio.

*3464 Orchard St. — Tim Turnquist and Jim Benes’ small garden is loaded with charm and an abundance of bees, butterflies, birds and other happy visitors. Their garden features pollinator plants, various prairie perennials, bee balm, milkweed and ornamental onions.

*1359 Prairie View Road, Eagle (just past 190th & Old Cheney Road) — Denny and Diane Jackson’s land was previously seeded by the developer with a mix of prairie grasses and flowers, which provide habitat for country critters. Today, their garden is an evolving collection of new varieties of perennials and annuals with a few shrubs and garden art, striving for a balance of color throughout the summer months.

*3835 Holdrege St. — The planting beds behind Varner Hall on UNL’s East Campus are home to more than a dozen rows of mostly herbaceous perennial plants. These range from native Nebraska grasses, such as Indian grass and prairie drop seed, to towering sunflowers and colorful Brazilian verbena.

*3850 Center St. — UNL’s Backyard Farmer Garden was created and maintained by certified Master Gardener volunteers. It celebrates its 70th anniversary with informal tours by a local Master Gardener.

For more information regarding the Garden Club of Lincoln and the annual garden tour, reach the club at [email protected]