Green thumbs, happy hearts
<p>Jan Schmitt has been working on her garden ever since she moved into her house nine years ago. Schmitt’s garden is one of five that will be part of the “Garden Memories” Garden Tour.</p>
<p>Anna and Ben Rolphe have a 10-acre Hayden home site that boasts nearly 5,000 flowers and interesting pieces such as the Gnome Village, seen here. The Rolphe garden is one of five that will be featured during the 17th annual Garden Tour, which takes place July 13.</p>
<p>Jan Schmitt' verdant Post Falls garden is full of many species of trees and an abundance of colorful flowers, such as these vibrant lilies. Her garden will be available for viewing during the July 13 Garden Tour.</p>
POST FALLS - Jan Schmitt's Post Falls garden is a tranquil wonderland of color.
"I do all this work and nobody gets to see it," she said with a laugh.
She has lived at the location in Jenicek Court for nine years, each year adding to and embellishing her 1-acre property.
"This garden went in phases," she said during a preview tour June 27. "I can show you an aerial shot ... there was nothing. Then it shows the big trees going in. And then the following year it was the shrubs that went in, and then the third year it was the lawn."
Schmitt's garden is one of five gardens that will be featured July 13 during the 17th annual Garden Tour, presented by the Coeur d'Alene Garden Club. The tour, named "Garden Memories," highlights the natural and manmade beauty of local gardens while bringing attention to gardener creativity, aesthetic knowledge and artistic ingenuity.
A split water feature with an upper and lower pond in the center of Schmitt's backyard bubbles out a 10-foot waterfall. It can be crossed using the custom-designed bridge bearing wrought-iron cattails and an Amish-made wooden gazebo sits nearby. A few benches and seats provide visitors a place to take it all in, and the lush green lawn is a scampering ground for the wild rabbits which have become fond of the garden. A sign on Schmitt's gazebo reads, "It all began in a garden."
"This is fun. I'll come out here and I'll bring my radio and I'll listen to some real soft music and I'll read," Schmitt said. "It's just very, very relaxing."
Schmitt has experience as a master gardener and used to live on 68 acres in Spokane. Her Post Falls home boasts a multiplicity of species of colorful flowers, trees and shrubs, from brilliant Stella D'Oro daylilies to gently peeling paper birches to bright green larches. Schmitt said she likes the different color variations.
"My passion was buying these plants and going to these various nurseries," she said. "I just started to travel to the garden show in Portland ... then I got interested in roses. At my other house I had over 300 roses. I loved it."
Visit Schmitt's vibrant garden and several others in Coeur d'Alene, Dalton Gardens, Hayden and Post Falls during the self-guided tour July 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.
Advance tickets are $15 and available at several locations including Ace Hardware, Mix-It-Up, and Vanhoff's Garden Center in Coeur d'Alene, New Leaf Nursery in Hayden, Aspen and Northland nurseries in Post Falls and other locations in Rathdrum, Spokane Valley, Spokane and Greenacres. Tour day tickets are $17 and will be available at Vanhoff's, Ace and in all the gardens. All profits will go to local charities and North Idaho College scholarships for dual-enrollment students.
Live music will be in each garden and several vendors will be on site. Children must be supervised. Please no strollers, no pets and no smoking.
Info: 664-0987 or www.cdagardenclub.com.