A home garden tour offers community connections, culture, and local cuisine.
The Mosaic Community Land Trust organized its first series of garden tours this year with a tour offered in the spring, summer and now fall seasons. The third and final tour will take place on September 18, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Participants will take a self-guided tour of house gardens in Boyertown and Pottstown.
In addition to the beautiful green spaces, the upcoming tour will also include works of art.
Members of the Pottstown Community Arts will showcase their work at 423 Chestnut St. Community Garden. There will be nature photography, acrylic paintings, felt masterpieces and more. The pieces are available for purchase. The fall tour may include an exhibition of artwork in Boyertown, but organizers are still finalizing details.
Mosaic Executive Director Daniel Price said the goal is to bring artists together with a home garden on future tours.
“Then you are not only in a beautiful garden, but you are also going through an art exhibition,” he said.
Another aspect of the home garden tour will be lunch at the Iron Gate beer garden in Pottstown. The food is provided by the Pottstown United Brewing Company. People have the option to add lunch to their purchase when purchasing a ticket for the tour.
Price said the lunch add-on was a fun feature included on each of this year’s garden tours to showcase a local restaurant in the Home Garden Contest communities.
“About 30 percent of the people who bought tour passes had lunch and that was really nice. We have worked with some great restaurants, ”he said.
Before the delicious lunch, participants spend their mornings strolling through several house gardens in the area. Price said the fall tour will be an exhibition of five home gardens in each district, a total of 10. People will have the opportunity to see a variety of green spaces created by residents.
“We have a little bit of everything. Many of the homes on the tour are former participants in the Home Garden Contest, which has a variety of categories, so these homes reflect that, ”Price said.
Price said the upcoming garden tour will be an event to help people learn about the various qualities of the community.
“This is an experience to showcase many different aspects of the city. Gardens, art and food, ”said Price. “It’s kind of a triple tour in many ways.”
Those interested in touring the local gardens, seeing artwork, or enjoying an al fresco meal can purchase tickets at bit.ly/FallGardenTour or by calling 484-214-5046.
Participants on the tour can participate in People’s Choice Judging and the garden with the most votes will be awarded at the Home Garden Contest Banquet on September 26th.
The winners of the 9th annual gardening competition will also be announced at the banquet. The competition was open to residents of Pottstown and Boyertown. The winners will receive cash prizes. Price said the competition had the highest number of entries this year.
“Boyertown’s number has doubled and Pottstown had the largest turnout of all time with over 60 houses,” he said.
Price attributes the increase in submissions to people spending more time at home, more reach from the competition committee, and the growth of Mosaic as an organization.
“It’s really nice to see the people who sent back applicants from the years before and the progress in many of those areas,” said Price.
The 2021 gardening competition had two bonus categories this year. The best block in Pottstown will be awarded and will be rewarded with a summer block party in 2022. People’s Choice is another new category that has been added this year.
You can find more information about the competition at www.homegardencontest.com.
