Mark your calendar for July 15 for DeKalb County Master Gardeners’ annual Garden Walk

SYCAMORE – The University of Illinois Extension DeKalb County Master Gardeners will host its 15th annual Garden Walk to showcase various gardening styles.

The garden walk will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 15 in Sycamore, DeKalb and Kirkland, according to a news release.

The walk features self-guided tours of seven private gardens and one educational garden. Attendees are encouraged not to bring pets. The Master Gardeners also are offering gently used garden accessories for a free-will donation. Proceeds will support the extension.

The gardens featured in the walk include:

• Christensen-Cowley garden: Amanda Christensen and Ned Cowley have gardened their home for the past 10 years. The garden was nationally registered as a Daylily Display Garden in 2017. The property emphasizes 800 different daylily cultivars. The cultivars are tagged with a name, hybridizer and registration date. The garden beds are themed “Political,” “Nature,” “Passion,” “Vampires,” “Witches” and “Cheers!” The yard also features foundation, berm and raised perennial beds.
• Fauci Garden: Julia and Dominick Fauci began to update their garden in the summer of 2015. The garden includes a rain garden, a solar array, apple trees, a vegetable garden, a pollinator garden, flowering shrubs, conifers and an arborvitae hedge. Attendees can view a miniature garden, a pagoda and moon gate, a crooked path, a teahouse and a Mount Fuji facsimile. Seasonal flowers will be on display. The Faucis previously participated in the Garden Walk in 2010.
• Hamingson Garden: Karen and Dan Hamingson have been gardening for 51 years. The Hamingsons’ property features native woodland plants, including ironwood, oak, maple and hickory trees. The gardens include ferns, moss and more than 40 hosta variations. The property also features a koi pond with a waterfall, a log home, a log machine shed, 1,000 feet of wood plank walkways, 600 feet of wood chip paths and a fieldstone potting shed.
• Lyon garden: The Lyons have gardened at their current home for 27 years. The yard was designed for their deaf children. The garden includes various trees and perennials, a picket fence around a vegetable garden and stone steps along the side of the house.
• The Mayfield Monarch Waystation: The Mayfield Monarch Waystation at Mayfield Congregational Church began in 2014. The garden’s goal is to support pollinating insect populations. The waystation also shows attendees how to use native plants in gardens. The garden features benches for visitors to relax and connect with nature. The waystation plants are native to northern Illinois. Lists of the garden’s plants and home gardener suggestions are available.
• Singer garden: Cary and Kay Singer’s garden is primarily focused on a Japanese koi pond. The pond features two built-in water filtration systems with water plants. The pond is surrounded by shrubs and perennials. A stone walkway also crosses over the pond. Attendees can listen to the pond’s waterfalls and watch koi swim from a garden patio.

• Taylor garden: Barbara Taylor began gardening her property 30 years ago. The garden’s plants include daffodils, peonies and hostas. The gardens are designed in sections. The plants are not categorized or labeled. Attendees can visit a nearby wildflower meadow. The garden also features patios, a gazebo, a small deck and statuary. Participants also can watch “en plein air” artists at work in the garden.
• Wilson garden: Susan and Richard Wilson have gardened their home for the past 16 years. Plants in the garden include clematis, barberry ninebark, dwarf burning bush, hellebore and heuchera. The garden features a pea gravel pathway, a bird bath, bunny statues, a concrete-stamped patio and garden decorations. The Wilsons’ garden also was part of the Garden Walk in 2018.

Wristbands are required to attend. The wristbands are available through July 7. A map and list of the garden names and addresses also are available. The wristbands cost $10. To buy wristbands, visit go.illinois.edu/2023GardenWalk; the DeKalb County University of Illinois Extension office, 1350 W. Prairie Drive, Sycamore; Blumen Gardens, 403 Edward St., Sycamore; Glidden Florist, 917 W. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb; or The Garden Market, 2270 Oakland Drive, Sycamore.

Early accommodation requests to participate in the event are encouraged. To make a request, call 815-758-8194.

For information, call 815-758-8194 or email cahandel@illinois.edu.