City Hosting Eco Yard, Garden Tour

Five yards and gardens across Edina will soon highlight environmentally friendly options from native plants and homegrown organic produce to rain collection and a geo-exchange ground loop system. 

A greener variety of garden tour, the Edina Energy and Environment Commission's (EEC) first Eco Yard and Garden Tour is set to showcase sustainability in practice on Sunday, July 31. 

Dianne Plunkett Latham, chair of the EEC, the EEC Recycling and Solid Waste Working Goup, and the EEC 2011 Eco Tour, organized the event. Latham has also been chair of the Edina Garden Council Tour since 2003 (that’s four chairs, if you’re counting) and is already working on her sixth EGC tour for 2012 (the tour runs every other year). 

“I know where all the gardens are in town,” Latham said. 

That knowledge was helpful in organizing this event, which highlights environmental options many people may not have known were present in Edina. 

Greg Nelson chose to participate in the tour to show the citizens of Edina that solar power is here—and it works.

“I added my house at the last minute when I heard there was a tour because people were surprised that there were solar systems already up in Edina,” Nelson said. “There’s actually quite a bit of it going up in Edina.” 

The original idea for the Eco Yard and Garden Tour came when the EEC was brainstorming ways to fundraise. Having a tour to showcase award-winning gardens and functional outdoor eco-friendly solutions seemed appropriate and, according to Latham—whose garden was a winner of the Star Tribune’s Beautiful Gardens contest last summer—the interest was already there. Latham fields requests for private tours of her garden on a regular basis, but simply doesn’t have the time to grant them.

“I like to put the garden on a public tour once a year,” Latham said. “For all those people, you can say, ‘Hey, here’s your chance, and you can give a little money to charity while you’re here.”

This year tour funds generated will benefit local park projects, like tree plantings and habitat restoration. 

The tour is set to run from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, July 31. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at through 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 29.

Tickets may also be purchased the day of the tour, beginning at 12:30 p.m. for $15 at Latham’s home, 7013 Comanche Court. It's one of the five stops on the tour, as well as the site of a plant sale. Proceeds from the plant sale will also benefit EEC environmental projects. 

“It gives me a chance to find good homes for my plants. I produce massive amounts of surplus plant material here every year and I simply cannot throw away a healthy plant,” Latham said. 

The tour’s five locations will spotlight two past winners of the Star Tribune’s Beautiful Gardens contest, one giant rain barrel, conventional rain barrels and solar panels.

Be on the lookout for more Edina Eco Yard and Garden Tour coverage from Patch, including sneak peaks of each environmentally friendly outdoor space before you have the opportunity to see them in person.