Toledo Day Nursery’s annual tour features Old Orchard neighborhood

Leah Connor's garden at 2903 Pemberton is part of the Toledo Day Nursery garden tour.

THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH
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Leah Connor's garden at 2903 Pemberton is part of the Toledo Day Nursery garden tour.

If the forecast holds up, Saturday’s expected bright and sunny weather promises to be a great day to either walk or take the shuttle to tour this year’s Toledo Day Nursery’s gardens in the Old Orchard neighborhood.

The theme of the 18th annual event “In Another Garden” features 10 homes whose owners’ diligent labor is apparent in their production of beautiful flowers and luscious greenery.

“There are great designs done by dig-in-the-dirt gardeners. There are no two alike,” said Pat Scheuer executive director of the nursery. “And many have shade gardens under canopies of trees.”

The entire route of this year’s tour is a mere 2.9 miles, which is quite small compared to gardens featured on previous Toledo Day Nursery tours. In the past, homes showing off gardens to support the nursery’s annual fund-raiser have covered a much larger area, sometimes as many as nine miles.

“So this is very compact this year,” Ms. Scheuer said about the tour of gardens at residences on Drummond, Barrington, Darlington, Middlesex, and Pemberton roads.

“People can walk it if they want to,” she added. “We just drove through Old Orchard and you can hardly tell which homes are on the tour because the entire area is gorgeous right now.”

For those who want to ride, four passenger vans will be available to transport tourists continuously throughout the day, beginning at 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tourists can catch a ride on the vans at the Central Academy of Ohio, a charter school, at 2727 Kenwood Blvd.

Tracy Tersigni's garden at 2425 Drummond is part of the Toledo Day Nursery garden tour.

On the day of the event, tickets can be purchased for $20 at the school or at any one of the gardens.

The cost of tickets prior to Saturday are $15. They can be bought at The Andersons, Bensell Greenhouse, Black Diamond Lawn & Garden, Creque’s Greenhouse, Hoen’s Greenhouse, Ken’s Flower Shop, Lily’s at Levis, Rhodes’ Garden Fresh, and Schramm’s Flowers.

Event organizers again are doing what they can to ensure that tourists’ experiences will be quite enchanting. Music will play in each of the gardens, where vendors will display garden art and various other garden and home items for anyone to purchase.

A preview party is set for Thursday at the Inverness Club. For additional information about the party and to purchase the $75 tickets, call the Toledo Day Nursery office at 419-243-2627.

These events support the Toledo Day Nursery’s three sites, two of them are on Jefferson Avenue and a third one is on Stickney Avenue.

Contact Rose Russell at: rrussell@theblade.com or 419-724-6178.