PRINT ADS

For Sandra Bartel, it is soft pinks, lavenders and whites that decorate her garden. She likes the soft colors and the gentle waves of repeating clumps of flowers.

So what are those bright red, orange and gold gerbera daisies doing in a little garden next to the compost bin?

“Those are for my husband,” she said with a laugh. “My husband wanted the hot colors.”

Bartel’s Onalaska garden is one of five stops on the Le Jardiniste Garden Tour planned for Thursday, June 19.

Except for that one patch of dare-you-to-look-past brightness, Bartel has kept to a soft, lush theme in the rest of the garden. At the entrance to the back yard, a wide, rusty arbor provides support for a variety of clematis vines that will obscure the arbor by season’s end. There are clumps of fresh white anemone, gentle arched branches of bleeding hearts, drifts of lamium and the bright pink of silene backed by a softer pink tiarella.

Her favorite hosta in the landscape is Aphrodite and she can’t imagine her garden without the large clump of hardy purple geraniums. The perennial beds curve around a clump of cottonwoods — so husband Paul doesn’t have to mow in between them — and around the side yard and out to the front. They are edged in a continuous concrete paver put in by Custom Curbing. Tucked inside are rope lights that click on about 8 p.m. Bartel loves the lights because they make the garden beds glow at night.

“It is gorgeous.”

A sunroom on the back of the house gets plenty of use because it gives the Bartels a great view of their landscape.

Bartel says order in the garden is one of her hallmarks. Not for her the overflowing flowers that seed wherever they want, blending with other kinds of flowers. Instead, she keeps the garden well weeded and well mulched and contains her more unruly plants with garden hoops. That way, she said, each plant gets the space it needs and she can enjoy the individual plants.

“I don’t like creepy crawly things,” she said, so she curbs that tendency in her garden.

What she doesn’t curb are the birds. Because she had plentiful clematis and morning glory vines, she gets a garden bonus. “I get so many hummingbirds.”

She doesn’t even have to put out hummingbird feeders, she said, because there’s plenty of nectar in all the vines.

Geri Parlin can be reached at geri.parlin@lee.net or (608) 791-8225.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Le Jardiniste Garden Tour

WHEN: 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 19

TICKETS: Advance tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Rockwood Gardens, Christen Farm Nursery and Edwardo’s Pizza; tickets purchased at the gardens the day of the tour will be $7

Information: www.cherylkeeffe.com

WHERE: In the following Onalaska gardens:

Colleen Burke Shore’s garden at W6399 Schilling Road. There is a steep hill to climb to see this spectacular garden. She has it made in the shade. Enjoy the massive plantings form the deck and hot tub area. Burke Shore is a gardener who is also a painter and she may have work available for show and sale during the tour.

Cheryl Keeffe’s garden at W6413 Schilling Road. A woodland whimsy, this garden was featured on Wisconsin Public Television’s “the Magic of Gardening” in March. There’s a lot of humor tucked in amongst shade-loving and deer-resistant plantings. There is also a small pond and waterfall as well as a play cabin that doubles as a tool shed. There will be artists selling their work in the Keeffe garden.

The garden at N5641 Mohican Trail is a treasure trove of plantings and art objects. Look closely for the unexpected in this garden.

The garden at 1320 Cliffview Ave. is a tropical oasis within a private sanctuary that welcomes both friends and birds. The gardener here is a true lover of tropical plants and there are many container gardens in an intimate deck setting. A small space that packs a punch.

The garden of Sandra Bartel at 613 Gail Ave. Follow the decorative brick path to the patio displaying several container gardens, a lighted arbor that welcomes visitors to an expansive, continuous, free flowing garden whose edging lights up the tree garden with several varieties of hostas and other shade loving plants.

ARTISANS: Artists who will be showing and selling their work: Rose Colored Glass n stained glass sun catchers & other garden related work; Winter Tree Studio n dichroic fused glass jewelry; One by One n painted glassware; Figuratively Speaking n art dolls by Cheryl Keeffe; Sunburst Soaps n handmade soaps & lotions

ABOUT THE GROUP: The LeJardiniste Garden Guild started in 2002 and is comprised of 11 women who share the love of gardening. This group donates proceeds form their fundraisers each year to various charities in the local area, such as WAFER, The Hunger Task Force and Jim’s Grocery Bag.

.