On Saturday, April 9, the Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island hosted a limited-access home garden tour, with 50 guests enjoying four varied home gardens on Marco Island. The half-day tour was repeated in the morning and afternoon, with gardening demonstrations presented to guests in each house. Both tours concluded with a reception at Calusa Park Butterfly Garden, where guests were welcomed by club president Susan Neustadt, gifts were given to guests from the monthly gardening guide produced by the club, and drawings were presented. held for seven door prizes at each reception.
Janet Watson describes reattaching philodendra monstera to her gumbo limbo tree after Hurricane Irma detached it.
Donna Kay’s backyard with sunny mimosa instead of grass.
The four allotments included a 2020 Marco In Bloom Award winner: Janice Engel. Engel’s beautiful hillside garden displays large planting areas filled with tropical plants that surround the trees and line its front driveway as well as its veranda. One of Engel’s planting areas centers on a large banyan tree with staghorn ferns hanging from its branches. Surrounding the tree are bromeliads, mothers of millions, and ginger plants, among others. Another featured garden was Donna Kay’s home, where sun mimosas replace the front lawn and mature hardwood trees provide a canopy for a variety of pollinating plants such as firebush. Kay’s plantings included a collection of croton plant varieties and a dragon fruit plant that resembles a cactus and climbs a host tree. Janet Watson offered her family garden for the visit, and her waterfront grounds include colorful flower beds with several seating areas. Watson also grows fruit trees and is eager to harvest her ponderosa lemons and avocados. The fourth gardener to give her garden a tour was Sue Oldershaw, who calls her landscape “An English cottage garden – but with subtropical plants”. Oldershaw won the 2014 Marco in Bloom Award, and his garden features subtropical plants that are either native Florida plants or Florida-friendly plants, arranged along paths and on trellises in a natural fashion. It uses very little fertilizer and no water other than that provided by our natural rainfall. Highlights of Oldershaw’s garden included unusual native trees: Lignum vitae, chaya and moringa, and a beautiful Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac) plant in full bloom that filled the air with a heavy fragrance.
Janice Engel describes bromeliads around the tree and up the tree.
Host Janice Engel with Monica Doyle showing a tied palm leaf.
In each of the four houses, members of the Calusa Garden Club gave demonstrations of gardening or floral design. Monica Doyle worked at Janice Engel where she showed guests how to cut, split and roll landscape plant leaves to create unusual shapes that would form the basis of a floral design or add interest to a bouquet. At Donna Kay’s, Barbara Messner, assisted by Gwyn Goodman and Marsha Riss, illustrated how to cut new plants from “mother” bromeliads, and how to pot or plant them. They answered many questions about the variety and growing habits of bromeliads, whether in sun, shade or partial sun. Another demonstration was given by Sharon Lewis at Janet Watson’s home, where she showed guests how to choose greenery and flowering plants for a window box using the motto “Thriller, Filler and Spiller”. And at Sue Oldershaw, Linda Schwoeppe showed how to glue tillandsia plants to a vine wreath to create a striking outdoor display. Schwoeppe also educated guests on growing tillandsias, including their light and watering needs.
Linda Schwoeppe shows how to tie tillandsia to a vine wreath.
Sharon Lewis, center, with guests after demonstrating how to plant a window box.
Calusa Garden Club members were delighted with the positive responses from their guests on the Home Garden Tour and plan to hold another Home Garden Tour in 2023. As guests and club members mingled at the Calusa Park Butterfly Garden after both tours guests gave members gave feedback on what they enjoyed about the event and club members were able to answer any questions guests had about the tour gardens, gardening on Marco Island and Calusa Garden Club activities.
