Kirsti Hart-Negrich’s yard is home to a variety of gardens, including a Michigan native plant garden, a rain garden and a prairie garden.
By: Kathryn Pentiuk | Southfield Sun | Published June 8, 2023
LATHRUP VILLAGE — Lathrup Village’s annual garden tour has lain dormant for a number of years, but thanks to the efforts of Kirsti Hart-Negrich and volunteers from the Lathrup Village Nature Group, the garden tour has sprouted back up.
This year’s garden tour will feature seven local gardens, including native plants, water features, plant collections, garden rooms, hardscaping and more.
In addition to private gardens, the tour will also feature the city’s community garden, Pride and Produce; the Lathrup Village Children’s Garden, which has been around for over 20 years and invites residents to adopt a plot in the 4,000-square-foot garden; and the newest public garden, a prairie garden with Michigan native plants and grasses. All three gardens are located at the Lathrup Village Municipal Building, 27400 Southfield Road.
The revival of the garden tour serves as a way for community gardeners to gather and share their love of gardening and tips for new gardeners, and is an opportunity to meet neighbors.
Kirsti Hart-Negrich, who will show her native garden, expressed excitement for the upcoming event.
“It’s going to be fun. Our garden is primarily a native garden, and many of the volunteers who are showing their gardens are also experts in different areas, so there are some people who are really good with pollinator plantings. And for me, composting.”
Hart-Negrich explained that this is the first event to surface for the Nature Group as the garden club that once existed aged out, and if there’s a desire from the community, she’d be happy to see more nature and garden-type events crop up.
Nancy Perchard is gearing up to show her garden that she and her husband, Don, have maintained since 1994, which is considered a mature garden, since it’s been around for over 20 years.
“It’s kind of a strolling garden, like in an English cottage garden style,” Perchard said. “It has little garden rooms in it with trees and shrubs and a mix of native and exotic plants. It’s animal friendly and all-organic, for the most part. It has an antique swimming pool and, believe it or not, a bomb shelter from the ’50s.”
Perchard admitted that she felt her large garden, which is about an acre, fell to the waysides a few years ago due to her dedication to rescuing and rehoming stray cats. However, Perchard stated that the garden tour has been a great way for her and her husband to return to spending time together in their garden. Perchard added that her three cats love to play in the garden and distract their owners when they’re working in the yard.
“We started this garden when we were in our 30s, and I wanted to have the biggest garden I could,” Perchard joked. “But now that we’re older, oh my God, what the heck were we thinking? But it’s great exercise and our way of getting back to nature.”
Tickets cost $10 and can only be purchased the day of the event, Saturday, June 24, at Lathrup Village City Hall.
Each ticket is a map of the seven gardens. The event will take place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The proceeds from the tickets will go towards the purchasing and planting of trees in Lathrup Village’s city parks to replace those that were lost in ice storms. In the case of rain, the event will be rescheduled to June 25.
For more information on how to volunteer with the Nature Group, visit their Facebook page.