It is interesting to find out what are the values ​​and motivations behind the creation of each landscape that gardeners will visit on Thursday, June 24 during the annual Garden Tour & Faire 2021.

Beth Dorn says the landscape she and her husband Todd are creating actually started with her mother.

“Mum had a green thumb,” Beth says.

Her mother loved flowers, especially peonies, and also bumblebees. On the first day of school each year, Beth’s father gave her a different bracelet with podiums and bumblebees. Her mother had created a special “white” garden with Beth’s daughter, Shelby, and they called it “Shelby’s Secret Garden”.

The mini-garden, which sits just southwest of Dorn’s Covered Patio, contains mum’s daisies and white peonies, along with other white-flowering plants and a small wrought-iron sign that reads’ Grandma Sally’s Garden. “. When Beth and Todd first designed their home, this place was already designated to be filled with mum’s memories.

Beth and Todd’s landscape is filled with personal meanings. As Beth says, behind many of her plant groups and flower beds, “there is a story”.

On the day of the garden tour, Beth and Todd Dorn’s young landscape will provide a valuable example of how a new garden might evolve. They developed their landscape one phase at a time, about one area per year.

The first year, they planted near their house, creating its “frame”. The second year, they created two queen beds, one on either side of their front lawn, widening said “frame”.

In the third year, they set up a lovely border bed along the far edge of their backyard, offering lovely views to admire from their windows, their covered patio in summer and winter, etc.

Their house is only seven years old, so they are still at the beginning of the evolution of their landscape. Beth claims it’s “a work in progress.”

“Containers are my thing,” she admits.

She presents visitors with many examples of her love of colorful flowers, papyrus (one of her favorite plants) and other green vegetables. Each year, she takes her daughters to choose some of the plants that will make up her container arrangements, and she includes them in various decisions about what to plant and where in their landscape.

Beth explains, “I love to pass my mother’s love for flowers on to my daughters.”

When asked what advice she could give to others who are developing young gardens, Beth reassures, “Keep trying… There is never any mistake. It’s flowers! How can you go wrong? And “If you choose what you like, it can’t be wrong.” “

Walkers who visit the Dorns may be impressed by the artistic taste with which the plantations of this garden contain all their “stories”. The home’s landscaping offers a wealth of awesome ideas for comfortable outdoor living.

Their covered patio is a three-sided outdoor room for grilling and entertaining with seating / conversation space facing a large TV; it has retractable screens in the event of bad weather. To the west / southwest, Todd and Beth’s landscaping gracefully follows the original topography of their two lots.

There are many beautiful and interesting plant species. These colorful pansies near the large stones in front were planted on Mother’s Day by Todd and Beth’s daughters, one plant per year. The girls chose the unusual black ones with yellow edges in the large urn because they all agreed that the thoughts reminded them of bumblebees.

Proceeds from the annual Kankakee Kultivators Garden Tour and Fair supports and maintains the grounds of the Kankakee County Museum and provides scholarships to KCC horticulture students. For more information, call 815-922-0285.

Jan Alleman is a member and communications manager of the Kankakee Kultivators Garden Club. Visit @kankakeekultivators on Facebook for more information.