Sign Up for INPAWS’ Spring Garden Tour Now
“Spring Landscaping with Native Plants” is the theme for this year’s INPAWS garden tour on Saturday, April 21. You’ll experience spring wildflowers in the natural setting of a wooded parkland, then head off to see how local gardeners incorporate these same spring ephemerals into their landscaping.
To participate, email Mary at gardentour@inpaws.org to let her know you’re coming. She will send you directions and maps. There is no charge for this tour.
Flowing Well Park This Carmel park is known for its artesian well where people from all over come to fill water containers. Springtime is magical here when the spring ephemerals bloom. The flowers range from vibrant Virginia blue bells to delicate Dutchman’s breeches. There are trilliums, wild ginger, and May apples. Wander through the trails and forget that you are next to a busy suburban street. There will be a plant identification scavenger hunt at the park.
Twin Beeches Before she knew much about Indiana’s native plants, this garden owner despaired of ever growing anything under her huge beech trees. Then Ruth Ann Ingraham participated in a plant rescue at Tutwiler Woods. She brought home many spring ephemerals and put them under the two old-growth trees in her back yard. Over time, she was pleasantly surprised by a multitude of flowers coming up that she hadn’t expected.
Ash Tree Acre What do you do when your yard is full of ash trees and the Emerald Ash Borer is known to be in your county? That is the question Matt Newell faces at his suburban home in Geist. Come see how one gardener is diversifying his yard with native plants in response to the inevitable loss of some of his ash trees. See rain gardens, a pollinator pasture, and a charming vegetable garden.
Cedar Haven This garden lies across the street from the White River Levee and is part of a wildlife corridor filled with many lovely tall trees. When Linda Shikany bought the house, the yard was bare except for turf grass and a mulberry tree. This nature lover of Lebanese descent (whence the “cedar”) replaced most of her lawn with plants designed to attract wildlife.
For The Birds This avid birder transformed her urban lawn into woodland and other gardens to attract birds and butterflies at all seasons throughout the year. Betsy Wilson has certainly succeeded! Native plants bloom from February to November. Back and front yard are filled with a lush abundance of trees, shrubs, ground covers, grasses, and flowers arranged in pleasingly shaped islands and borders, with plants grouped and contained and displaying a good variety of shapes, heights, and colors.