By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington-Normal’s annual Glorious Garden Festival Garden Walk is marking 20 years this spring.
The self-guided tours of 10 private gardens has attracted 200,000 visitors over the years. Organizer Donna Dickson told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin you don’t have to be a ‘green thumb’ to appreciate these displays.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Dickson on WJBC.
“People who have never had a garden and are wanting to do something can get a whole bunch of ideas,” Dickson said. “That’s part of the fun of it.”
Dickson added the gardens come in all shapes, sizes and themes.
“We try to have a good mix, because a lot of people think the garden walk is just the English cottage garden and it isn’t,” Dickson said. “We have small gardens that are nothing but flowers. We have one this year where they wanted to do an entertainment center in their yard so they can have parties.”
The garden walk is the largest annual fundraiser for the state-run David Davis Mansion.
Dickson added the walk’s theme is ‘A Gardening Legacy,’ which reflects the long-term financial support the garden walk has provided for the restoration and preservation of Sarah Davis’s 1870s garden at the mansion.
Corporate sponsors for the Glorious Garden Festival are Casey’s Garden Shop & Florist, Chizmar Landscaping, Green View Companies, Grieder Landscaping Service & Garden & Design Center, Growing Grounds Garden Center and Florist, Original Smith Printing, Serenity Creek Design & Landscaping, Inc., Solid Ground Gardening, State Farm Insurance Cos., Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses & Garden Center, WJBC AM 1230, and Zimmerman & Armstrong Investment Advisors, Inc.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
