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The Portage County Garden Parade will be held Saturday, July 9.

The parade, held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., offers an inside look at five private residential properties in the area. The properties are:

Len and Justine Brilowski, 1426 Oxbow Rd., moved to his family’s farmstead and have taken advantage of the rolling terrain and sunny conditions to create a gardener’s haven. With peonies from her mother and a variety of colorful perennials, they have built rock gardens, added shrubs, and enjoyed spring woodland flowers.

Cindy and David Worth, 542 County Rd. K North, Custer, garden organically with a focus on native plants. From their first shade garden in 2002 to establishing a prairie in 2015, they use renewable energy with geothermal beds and a solar array. A rain catchment system stores water above ground, which is gravity-fed to gardens with soaker hoses.

Ann and Jeff Galbraith, 6981 Country Beautiful Ln., have made the most of their wooded lot. They replaced straight borders with curvy lines, added raised dry-stone borders, and removed gravel mulch, numerous evergreens, and other plants that don’t bring joy. Their shady yard is landscaped with numerous hostas, ferns, astilbes, hellebores, and hydrangeas.

Wanda and John VanLin, 6948 Country Beautiful Ln., have transformed their yard to provide color, texture, bird habitat, and animal protection. A pond is a key feature, important for wildlife. Small trees, hostas, and a variety of plants have replaced unproductive berry bushes. Something is blooming at all times in their yard.

Ann and Kit Kiefer, 801 9th St., Plover, say their landscape demonstrates that “nothing is constant but change.” A series of storms over the years toppled trees and opened spaces for gardening. Their yard is a colorful mix of perennials, hostas of various shapes and sizes interspersed with beds of native plants and pollinator-friendly species, and a growing assortment of hybrid daylilies.

Various demonstrations, vendors, information, and musical entertainment will be available at each of the garden locations, on such topics as planting for butterflies.

Garden Parade tickets are $10 in advance or $12 on parade days at any of the parade sites.

Tickets can be purchased at:

Portage County Master Gardeners sponsor the garden parade and will have trained volunteers available to answer questions at each garden. For more information, contact Portage County UW-Extension at 715-346-1316.

Metro Wire Staff After completing six months of training at the Wisconsin State Patrol Academy,

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