By Kyle Koger, Garden Walk Committee—
MUNCIE, IN—After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Purdue Extension Master Gardeners of Delaware County are pleased to welcome garden enthusiasts from across the state to the 2023 Garden Walk. The event will be held on Saturday, June 24, 2023. The walk/tour begins at 9 am and goes until 3pm. You can visit the gardens in any order.
Take the time to stroll through six unique and exquisite private residential landscapes and one community garden located throughout the charming communities of Muncie, Yorktown, and Selma. Each garden offers its own accolade, allure, and tastefully designed features.
Garden Overview
Patrons will be able to explore one garden in the Halteman Village neighborhood that features several well-crafted outdoor rooms within the landscape. These secluded spaces offer an ideal destination to relax, drink a morning cup of coffee, and read the newspaper for the homeowner.
Attendees will also be able to tour the Ross Community Center garden which features 8 vertical raised beds and several do-it-yourself vertical gardening solutions. Healthy and nutritious food harvested from the garden is distributed to community members each Friday during a special Community Market.
Additionally, garden enthusiasts will learn from one gardener about the importance of color balance within plant selection to create a peaceful and harmonious landscape.
For the aquatic lover, the tour will feature a backyard bog garden nestled within the urban streets of Muncie. Mimicking the natural filtration process of a wetland bog, this garden sustains a diverse assortment of water-loving flora and fauna while eliminating the need for an extensive mechanical filtration and circulation system.
Several other sustainable features, including pollinator gardens and pesticide-free management practices will be visible throughout the tour.
Among the many garden trends, strategies, and designs highlighted on the Garden Walk, attendees are guaranteed to collect one or more ideas that can be translated into their own yard, garden, or backyard oasis. Extension Master Gardeners and homeowners will be present at each garden to answer your garden-related questions.
Other Activities
Several other activities have been planned throughout the day to coincide with the Garden Tour.
Fifteen local members of the Muncie Artists Guild have been invited to paint en plein air at several of the gardens. Ticketholders will have the opportunity to watch these painters capture the serenity of each garden through the mediums of oils, watercolor, and pastels. Explore their process and watch the landscape come to life on the canvas.
Copies of the award-winning wildlife education book series, Conservation Tales, will be available for purchase at one of the gardens. Created as a collaborative effort between a diverse cohort of scientists and Ball State University students, each book features multiple pages of colorful illustrations and text exploring vital wildlife species such as bats, salamanders, manatees, macaw, and monarch butterflies.
Additionally, two hundred native black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) bareroot tree seedlings from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources State Nursery will be distributed to the first 200 attendees.
All attendees will have the opportunity to win one of several great prizes- including seed packets, gardening tools, books, and mail-order garden certificates.
How to Participate
The Garden Walk is open to the public. . Advance general admission to the Garden Walk is $5 per person. Tickets may be pre-purchased by contacting a Delaware County Extension Master Gardener or by calling the Purdue Extension – Delaware County office at (765) 747-7732, at Berry Winkle, or at the DCMGA booth at the Yorktown Farmers Market on Friday, June 23.
Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the event for $7 at either the G & M Pet and Garden Center (101 W Royerton Rd), Berry Winkle, or at any of the featured gardens.
- Charming Country Garden- 4915 N. Nebo Rd, Muncie
- Bluebird Cottage Garden- 7319 W. Heathrow Lane, Yorktown
- Ross Community Center’s Rose Tranquility Garden, 1110 W. 10th , Muncie
- Colorful Begonia Garden, 4005 S. Whitney Rd. , Selma
- Serenity Garden, 3908 S. Franks Lane Selma
- Peaceful Koi Garden- 1404 W. Main St., Muncie
- Awakening Garden – 3809 Sheridan Dr., Muncie
Cash or check will be accepted.
Your ticket serves as your guide to each of the seven delightful gardens with addresses and additional information about each landscape. Additional Garden Walk signage will be located along the tour route to help you navigate to each garden.
This is a rain-or-shine event; no refunds will be provided. Please dress for the weather.
About DCMGA
The Delaware County Master Gardener Association – a chapter of the Purdue EMG Program, sponsored by Purdue Extension – is a volunteer training program designed to meet the gardening information needs of the community. The program aims to provide information and technical assistance about gardening and consumer horticulture through trained and certified community volunteers.
Thank you to our generous community members and corporate partners that help make this event a success! All proceeds from the event will support future Purdue Extension Master Gardener outreach events and educational programs such as our summer Children Workshops and Advance Master Gardener training programs.
Purdue University is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action university. Please contact Extension Master Gardener Karen Ford at 765-759-8721 prior to the event if you are an individual with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program.
