Secret gardens in bloom
Miller club’s annual walk features six hidden settings
Garden enthusiasts got a chance to view six different and elaborate hidden gardens as part of this year’s Secret Garden Walk, sponsored by the Miller Garden Club.
The 18th annual event gave visitors the opportunity to see six private gardens in the Miller Beach area in Gary. This year’s theme was “Petal Pushers,” a play on words referring the short pants popular in the 1950s and ’60s
“I’m an avid green-thumber and always looking for new ideas,” Donna Sentmeyer of Merrillville, said at the Marquette Park Aquatorium, where the event originated. “I come to this event every year and always leave with ideas of something I want to try.”
The first garden on the tour was the newly created kayak launch on the Marquette Park lagoon, about 50 yards from the Aquatorium. The gardens and launch were designed and created by Miller resident Zully Alvarado, using universal design elements and includes a special path and flowers that are easily cared for by people who are in wheelchairs.
Other gardens on the walk featured straw bale gardening, low-maintenance gardening and lakeview gardens.
The straw bale garden was designed using decomposed bales instead of soil for the vegetables and flowers.
Joyce Leavitt, of Ogden Dunes, said she was having quite a few shrubs removed from her yard and was in the market to look for something to replace them.
“I need to make plans to fill in that area,” she said. “It’s one thing to read about various garden ideas, but quite another to actually see these things grow.”
Visitors said the chance to chat with the garden owners was an great resource.
“I’m new to decorating my yard, so I don’t want to make a mistake picking out flowers that don’t go together,” said Susan Schellberg, of Hobart. “I love a lot of color too, so it’s interesting to talk to the owners as we go through their gardens. I appreciate their advice.”
Nine vendors, offering everything from metal sculptures to flowerpainted glassware, were in the courtyard of the Aquatorium.
“I love all of the gardenthemed items they sell at these events,” said Marge Derrick, of Gary. “There’s always things you can’t find at regular stores, almost all my yard decorations are unexpected finds.”
The two-day event also offered a guided tour for bicycling enthusiasts. Miller Garden Club member Dave Kemeren, of Ogden Dunes, led the nearly 4.2-mile bike tour, which included hills and inclines of the Miller area.
The tour began and ended at the Aquatorium, which is situated at the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan in the Miller Beach section. The building is the former Gary Bathing Beach, where in the early and mid-20th century beachgoers gathered to shower and change into bathing attire before walking down to the shore for a dip in Lake Michigan.
The refurbished structure houses a museum dedicated to flight. honoring the work initiated by Octave Chanute with his gliders, data he freely shared with the Wright Brothers.
In addition, there’s a section of the building named for the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed African-American flying aces of World War II, including a replica of aircraft used in their flights.