Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Garden Tour explores Hailey?s hidden gems

Mature trees and secret gardens highlight small town ambience


By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

Peak into hidden Hailey gems on this weekend?s garden tour. Express photo by Dana Dugan.

July in the garden is a funny time. All the fun stuff is over—the imagining, planning, finding the right plants and getting your hands in the actual dirt. By the time July rolls around and the garden is in full swing, well, there's only one thing left to do, admire it.

So, on the heels of the Sawtooth Botanical Garden tour comes The Friends of the Hailey Public Library Garden Tour. This year's focus is on several gardens in Old Hailey, from Bullion Street south to the Hailey Native Plant Arboretum at Fox Acres Road. Unlike gardens in the north valley, the charms of Old Hailey are the mature and abundant trees, and several of the locales on the tour will feature wonderful examples including a rare red oak and a hundred year old pear tree.

One of the dwellings is a corner lot Victorian with a mature yard dating back to the mid-1800s with Norway maples, Engelmann spruce and two of the tallest and oldest birch trees in town.

Another corner home, built in 1984, features a backyard that's evolved to attract an abundance of birds. There are many different tree and shrub species, including alpine currant, ciberian peashrub and serviceberry that make perfect avian habitats. The many different birds who've discovered the santuary include western tanagers, goldfinches and even hairy woodpeckers.

According to Sallie Hanson, organizer of the tour, "They wanted this to be a jungle, a place for birds to hang out." Many of the trees and shrubs have been allowed to grow, keeping it all a bit wild and very private.

What used to be a victory vegetable garden in back of another of the featured homes now boasts divine perennial beds and a metal arbor built by the son-in-law as a thank-you for their daughter's hand.

The Wood River Land Trust building at 119 E. Bullion was originally built in 1881, one of the first in Hailey. After a rennovation several years ago, a true cottage garden was planned and now boasts hollyhocks, black-eyed Susans, white iris along with spectacular Annabelle hydrangeas.

CK's Resturant is a three-season garden with abundant tulips and irises in the spring. In the summer, William Baffin climbing roses meander up two south side trellises intertwined with clematis. Other summer bloomers include daylilies, lamb's ears, and dianthus. In the fall the colors of the Virginia creeper vine is stunning, plus the colors of leaves changing on many shrubs in the garden.

New vegetable and flower beds, a tree house and a water feature highlight a home on Fourth Street on the way to the Hailey Native Plant Arboretum at Fox Acres Road, just off the the bike path. Most people are surprised that Hailey has an an arboretum at all. Hanson said it's appopriate to have on the tour as it represents a "garden of trees." There are a range of specimens of native trees and shrubs found in and around the different tree communities of the Wood River Valley and areas nearby.  

At the home on East Carbonate, landscaping showcases the carpentry and rock work of a water feature and the preciseness of a vegetable garden maze.

A Hailey landmark, The Ellsworth Inn, was built in 1917 for a Standard Oil heir from London. Now a lovely bed and breakfast-type inn, and venue for weddings and parties of all kinds, a vist inside its high, private walls is a treat. Among the many abundant plants, are many mature trees.

All the gardens will also offer an education to the process of garden creation with master gardeners, an arborist and professional gardeners who can answer queries regarding design, plant choices, irrigation, tree care and use of native plants.

Herbal teas and lemonade will be available at the gardens, accompanied by live music.

Hailey Garden Tour

The tour will be from 4--8 p.m. Saturday, July 22. Tickets are available at Chapter One in Ketchum; Iconoclast, Vintage Gypsy and the Hailey Nursery in Hailey; and the Sun Valley Garden Center in Bellevue. They will also be on sale at the Hailey Farmers' Market from 4-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 20. Tickets can be bought on the day of the tour from noon-5 p.m. at the Hailey Public Library on Main Street.




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