Hickory Corners
Wednesday, July 22, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
This native garden tour includes one at a KAWO member’s residence and one on the grounds of the Gilmore Car Museum. This is an open-house style tour; stop by any time between 6 and 8. Your tour of the Car Museum gardens will be self-guided.
The stories:
7877 Bendere Road
l started with a small collection of natives from a Wild Ones Spring exchange around 2016, adding a few new species each year (seldom buying from commercial sources).
I spend more time trying to remove invasive species in the remainder of our property than I do tending the native beds which are “on their own.” The more aggressive natives have spread throughout the beds.The healthiest native plants are within the fenced vegetable gardens that are not available to the deer and rabbits. I have planted many native trees and shrubs (redbud, tulip poplar, oaks, viburnums, dogwoods, etc) either from seedlings (3″ tall) or bare root purchases through Barry County and Van Buren County conservation districts, especially along the driveway and perimeters of the property. Admittedly, there are a number of non-native favorites and contributions from neighbors and friends. There are natives in the front yard, backyard, and beyond. I encourage visitors to wander beyond the house. -Margo
Gilmore Car Museum, 6865 Hickory Road
The KAWO community garden project at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners was planted in 2018 by KAWO members and has been maintained since then. After approaching the Gilmore about putting in native plants, Carol and Mike Klug designed the gardens and grew the plugs for planting. There are three gardens: a demonstration garden near the main building entrance and two basins that serve as catchment for water runoff for the entire compound. The basins have plants that prefer a wet environment in the lower areas. A group of KAWO gardeners maintain the gardens by having work sessions from early spring through late fall. The basins are usually burned in the spring to remove the previous year’s growth and that is the main extent of work on them. In the demonstration garden, weeds are controlled and the edges maintained, mulch is laid, and spent plants are deadheaded to prevent too much volunteer seeding. -Cindy Vergeron
About the car museum
The museum buildings close at 5, but the grounds will still be accessible in the evening. Enter the museum grounds from Hickory Road. The demonstration garden is just south of the entrance to the main building. The north basin is about 300 feet south of the main entrance, in the grass lawn across from (east of) the Franklin Collection building. The south basin is another 200 feet south, on the other side of William Durant Drive and across from (east of) the Model A Ford Museum building. These three gardens are all marked on the map linked to the above button.
See Cindy’s photos of the garden on our Facebook page.