Lake County >> The Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club thought they were going to have to build up steam for a few years before hosting a truly popular home garden tour. But turns out, the enthusiasm was already there. In 2015, they organized the very first Hidden Gardens of Lake County home garden tour, which featured eight gardens running up the west side of the lake. The event saw attendees from Sonoma, Napa, Humboldt and Mendocino counties, with some people coming from as far away as Sacramento.
“We were astounded last year,” said garden tour Chair Debra Watson O’Dell. “We introduced Lake County to so many people last year. I can’t tell you how many times we heard, ‘This is Lake County? Oh my gosh, I never knew.’”
As the club’s largest fundraiser, Hidden Gardens of Lake County was a complete success. They raised over $5,200, much of which went to eight local student gardens and two scholarships for students planning to pursue a degree in horticulture or related fields. The money also helped to keep the Trowel and Trellis Garden Club running and fund their civic beautification projects.
Roughly 250 attended last year’s event — they even sold out of tickets the day of — and the club is expecting a similar turnout for this year’s event, which takes place this Saturday. The self-guided tour consists of five gardens in Lakeport and Kelseyville, from private residences to wineries. And none of the homes were featured last year.
“Every venue is completely different,” said Kathy Steinberg, Garden Walk Press Chair. “You’re not going to be able to sit down and compare them because you can’t.”
Situated on the shores of Clear Lake, with a view of Mount Konocti, Jim and Patti Offenbach’s garden in Lakeport surrounds giant redwood trees and includes a custom fountain, a 100-year-old Japanese maple, a pool, a cabana and a dock reaching into the lake. The plantings, hardscapes, and outdoor living area surrounding their home and guest house were transformed and designed by Jim Offenback 20 years ago. This particular stop will include a musical performance by a harpist in the morning and jazz music later that afternoon.
Win and Sue Stiles’s seven acre property is also located in Lakeport, but that’s about all the two have in common. Designed as a wildlife refuge, the garden consists of mostly potted plants on a patio surrounding the house. Sue Stiles let the rest of the property run wild, with additions of fountains and water to attract animals. From their windows they watch the turkeys, peacocks, deer and birds flock to their property.
The tour of the Stiles’s home will also include an indoor conservatory with a variety of succulents, plus work by local painters. The artists won’t only be showing off their paintings, they’ll be creating a landscape on site.
Stiles’s garden is the culmination of about six years of work and a whole lot of experimentation. When she moved to Lake County 15 years ago, Stiles had a dream of one day turning her property into a lush, flowering garden. But with the dry, hot summers and the freezing winters, not to mention her hilly, wind-exposed land, Stiles quickly realized that she had to change course. She found the plants that thrived were the ones which went dormant in the winter and blossomed in the spring. Now, her garden can be described as Mediterranean in style.
It’s been a long process, but an enjoyable one. “I just really love being outside and it gives me a chance to commune with nature,” Stiles said. “It’s really getting yourself into the nitty-gritty of sweating and working and that feels good.”
Moving over to Kelseyville, Chacewater Winery and Olive Mill will feature a plant sale of greenery grown by garden club members. Though the winery doesn’t have a garden, they do have an organic olive tree orchard originally planted by the monks of St. Gregory Orthodox Monastery. They’ll also be giving a demonstration on olive pressing and an olive oil tasting.
At Helen Finch’s property along Kelsey Creek, visitors will find vegetables, herbs and flowers as well as an number of farm animals, including a Watusi steer named Stetson. Finch has been working on her garden for 16 years and, as gardens go, she’ll continue to alter it for many years to come. “It’s like a big painting that has to be repainted and adjusted,” she said. “It creates itself, you just have to be willing to do the work.”
The last garden on the list is located at Kelseyville’s Boatique Winery, which is home to 24 raised beds of professionally-planted tulips. This stop is an opportunity to learn about raised bed constriction and drip irrigation. But for those uninterested in the technical aspects of gardening, wine tasting will be available for a $5 fee.
These featured homes were chosen from those who volunteered their own gardens or club members who put in suggestions. The only criteria? The garden had to be spectacular.
And it wasn’t difficult to find willing participants. “People work so hard on their gardens, they’re so proud of them, they like to show them off,” Steinburg said.
Indeed, Finch was thrilled when she was asked to participate in the tour. “Who wouldn’t be flattered and delighted?” she said. “You’re a gardener and you love your yard. Who wouldn’t want to share it with people?”
One might wonder how Hidden Gardens of Lake County gained so much popularity in such a short amount of time. Aggressive advertising certainly had something to do with it. The garden club announced the event in newspapers around the North Bay, spread the word to as many garden clubs as possible and put it on the California garden club website. “Garden club people are pretty crazy about garden tours,” Watson O’Dell said.
Then there are the people who attended out of sheer curiosity. Watson O’Dell felt there could have been no title more fitting than Hidden Gardens of Lake County. The county isn’t much of a thoroughfare, travelers rarely need to drive down Hwy. 29 to get from one place to the other. And in that respect, the gardens very much are hidden gems.
Steinburg agreed. “People were curious about what they were going to find in Lake County,” she said. “Once they got here it was very easy to show them how beautiful our gardens were. Our whole county is gorgeous.”
The second home garden tour takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. -4 p.m. To purchase tickets, email gardentour@clttgc.org or call 263-5803. For more information, visit the Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club website at www.clttgc.org.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
